


A Rogue's Call to Arms

by accursedone17



Series: A Rogue's Call to Arms [1]
Category: The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: Gen, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-07-28
Updated: 2018-01-12
Packaged: 2018-12-08 04:07:40
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 15
Words: 38,274
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11638578
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/accursedone17/pseuds/accursedone17
Summary: Laura has spent her whole life trying to escape the pain her father caused her, doing her best to not let the past destroy her. However, when the accelerator explosion sends her into a coma, Laura wakes up nearly a year later, changed in so many ways. But with these changes also comes the chance to put her past behind her and make a difference in the world.





	1. The Incident

_Central City, 2014_

This was it. Her final chance.

One more round of experimenting, and then her funding would either be continued or cut off.

Without any funding, she would be just another intern, handing her boss coffee every morning and screening his calls. She would be nobody once again.

Carefully, she slid the giant plastic wrapped slab of ice that had been sitting in the freezer for weeks on to her table. As she reached for the tools on her trolley, her phone pinged, and she answered it with resignation.

_Hey! Finally turning on the accelerator! U coming? :)_

Right. Tonight was the big opening event of S.T.A.R. Labs' biggest project in years: the particle accelerator. Or, as everyone who had continuously worked on it for the past two years called it, the Pipeline.

The Pipeline was going to put the S.T.A.R. on the maps, according to Dr. Wells. She knew that she should be down there with her colleagues, watching as the beauty of physics that was the Pipeline was activated in front of hundreds of people, but she never really had been a big fan of parties. Or a fan of crowds either, now that she thought about it, all alone in her small, private lab, with the blinds pulled shut and the lights dimmed.

_Sorry, Cis. IQ doesn't do well with parties._ She texted back, desperately hoping that he wouldn't respond and just let her be. No such luck.

_Come on. There's chocolate! :)_

_Cisco._

_Fine. :(_

She waited a few seconds, just in case he decided to bribe her with chocolate - one of her few weaknesses - but nothing came after that. It was a bit disappointing that he hadn't tried harder, and she silenced her phone with a small sigh, pocketing it once again. Honestly, it would have been nice if he'd persisted, but her put downs usually scared people off the first time, so he'd probably thought it was better to leave her alone. The nickname Ice Queen didn't come from her happy mood and chipper personality, after all.

Truth be told, Cisco was one of the few people she liked having around.

A bit more somber now, she reached up and slid the plastic wrap off of the ice, relishing in the cold mist that had greeted her every week for two years now. If she didn't do something productive or amazing tonight, then she would have to give up the joy of having a private lab all to herself, so she set about cutting the ice open immediately with one of the power saws Dr. Wells had allowed her to bring in.

"Alright, fellas, let's see what we have tonight." She muttered to herself as she sliced off a large chunk of the ice and slid it on to the trolley. Her arms ached as she pushed it towards the computer, where she positioned the cart underneath the high definition camera hooked up to the ceiling and took her place at the screens. The timing for this had to be perfect, absolutely perfect, or else everything would be for naught. God, had she just used the word 'naught'? She was turning into her brother.

Her fingers worked deftly with practiced ease as she turned on the lights and the camera, setting the magnification to its highest point. As it adjusted, she turned off the room lights and shut off her phone, just in case one of her colleagues decided she was spending too much time by herself. She did like having them around, despite what everyone else said about her, but sometimes, it was good to be alone.

Laura stepped back a bit, her blue eyes focusing on the screens above her. At first, all she could see was snow white, and for a moment, her heart faltered. This couldn't be the end.

Then, something moved. Her heart faltered for a second before she realized that panic wasn't an option. She reached blindly for the controls, until whatever had moved before did it again. And again.

"Holy shit."

Laura watched as the tiny organism on her screen moved around, and she grinned so wide, it would have made Cisco's head spin. A tiny laugh bubbled up in her throat, and Laura felt extremely grateful of the fact that no one was there to see it.

She couldn't believe she'd done it. Her entire project had been based off of the idea that ice could contain a new kind of organism, one able to survive the coldest temperatures known to man. Nobody had believed her at first - the field of ice was fairly new and highly underappreciated - but the little thing on the screen would prove everyone wrong. Another laugh escaped her, but it was cut off suddenly by the blaring of an alarm. The lights suddenly dimmed, and the red emergency lights switched on seconds later.

"What the hell?" She muttered, wrenching her eyes away from the screen. Her phone buzzed a second later, the screen lit up with a call.

"What"?

"Laura! Thank God! Listen, there's something wrong with the accelerator. You need to get out!"

"Cisco, what-" Laura yelled into the phone, her mind racing from the truckload of information she'd just received. Nothing should have gone wrong tonight. The Pipeline was supposed to be flawless. Suddenly, a wave of immense heat passed over her and the phone fell from her hand as her body crumpled to the ground, as heavy as lead and completely numb. Her mind was filled with panic as a screeching noise filled her lab, and Laura closed her eyes, willing for it to just stop.

"Laura, get out _now_!" She heard Cisco shout. She could just begin to see flames licking at the door.

_Nice knowing you._

That was the last thing she heard before a wave of cold enveloped her, and the world went white.


	2. The Awakening

_"_ _You stay away from her!"_

_"You don't tell me what to do, you little brat!"_

_"_ _AH!"_

_"_ _Just be glad I didn't hit you harder."_

_"_ _It's okay. Don't cry."_

_"I hate him. I hate him so much."_

_"I_ _know. I hate him too."_

_"I wish we could leave. Just...just go."_

_"Not without her."_

 

_"L_ _-Laura? You still in there?"_

_"_ _Y-yeah."_

_"Y_ _ou can come out now."_

_"_ _A-are you hurt?"_

_"_ _No more than usual. Hey, don't cry. I'm fine."_

_"I_ _don't like it when Daddy yells."_

_"_ _I_ _know. I don't either."_

_"I_ _'m scared."_

_"_ _Do you really hate Daddy?"_

_"_ _Yes."_

_"I hate him too."_

_"N_ _o, you don't. Not yet."_

_"_ _Where're you going?"_

_"_ _Down to the store."_

_"_ _Can I come too?"_

_"'...f_ _raid not, kiddo. We'll be back soon, though."_

_I hate you._

It was cold.

She didn't like the cold, not really. Most people would assume that she preferred the cold because she worked with ice. Ice, she was fine with. Ice was fascinating. Entire continents made up of ice simply sitting at the either end of the world, holding so much potential discovery about one of the greatest feats of nature. Seeing a nature documentary on icebergs for the first time, albeit on a crummy TV barely bigger than her grade school lunchbox, had sparked her love for science, and for ice. 

She shivered as yet another frigid wave of cold passed through her. Her entire body felt detached from all reality, as if she were floating in the infinite darkness that surrounded her. The heaviness that weighed down her limbs weighed down her eyes as well.

_Fire._

A scream nearly tore its way out of her throat as images of flames flashed before her eyes, and she remembered everything. She remembered falling to the floor, alarms blaring as someone - Cisco, Cisco Ramon - screamed for her through the phone. She remembered being unable to move. She remembered her skin burning and cracking as fire engulfed the room. She remembered dying. She remembered being cold.

_Help me_.

Her entire body was burning, as if every cell in her body was trying to rip away from each other and tear her apart. It was becoming almost unbearable, and Laura could barely suppress a scream as the sensation peaked. Something fluid entered her lungs, and she started to choke on the bitter liquid, her eyes flashing open to meet only a burning sensation and a world of murky grey and blue streaks. Her hands lashed out, hoping to grab on to something, but they only met cold hard metal. Through her panic, she dimly recognized that she was floating in some sort of tank, long and deep but just barely wide enough to accommodate her.

_"_ _Laura!"_

The voice calling out to her was laced with fear and confusion and muffled by the liquid she floated in, yet it only served to increase her panic. Laura suddenly heard a deafening whirring, the noise amplified in the liquid, and her vision was blinded with white light as the metal before her disappeared. However, the pain the light caused was quickly overshadowed by the sensation of skin burning. Her entire body felt as if it were on fire, and Laura screamed in agony. Everything burned. It was just too much.

_Don't let me die like this. Please, not like this._

Suddenly, she was being pulled upwards, her body too heavy to move on her won, and Laura lashed out as the skin, overpowering the sensation of burning that the air had filled her senses with. As she screamed, Laura was dimly aware of her hands becoming numbingly cold, and a surge of energy rising in her chest, ready to be let free and show the world its power. Laura was so far gone by the time the hands grabbing at her pressed a needle into her neck that she wasn't even aware she'd lost the battle.

 

As Laura quickly plummeted into a medically induced sleep, two of her former colleagues, Cisco Ramon and Caitlin Snow were trying to stop their hands from shaking.

"No entiendo, no entiendo lo que esta mal, no lo entiendo-" Cisco rambled, pacing back and forth around the small room as he wrung his hands out over and over again. Laura's screams, filled with only agony, had frozen him on the spot, and his hands were shaking so much that he'd nearly missed her neck with the hypodermic needle that had ended her torment temporarily.

"Cisco-" Caitlin tried to butt in, but she was quickly cut off by his frantic rambling.

"Que pasa con ella? ¿Por que no se dejan de gritar?"

"CISCO!"

The young man stopped short at the stern tone in Caitlin's voice, and he went still as she approached him. In the ten months they'd been working together at the ruins of the labs, they had developed a rhythm of sorts, but every so often, he would do something out of line, or forget to eat or sleep, and then he'd have to face the fury of the mighty Dr. Snow. Which usually ended up with them not speaking to each other for at least a few days.

"Stop that! It;s just the tank. We knew when we put her in there that there would be consequences, but now that she's awake, we can help her. Okay?" Caitlin could be frightening at times, but now Cisco could plainly see that seeing Laura in so much pain had shaken her as well.

Ten months ago, in the hours following the explosion that had everyone talking for the next, well, ten months, Cisco and Caitlin's phones had rung on opposite sides of the city.

_"_ _We've found her. That colleague of yours that we weren't able to place."_

_"_ _Laura? Laura Sanders?"_

_"_ _Yes, her. But, you should know...she's probably not going to make it through the night."_

_"_ _What? Can't you do anything to save her?"_

_"I'_ _m sorry, but the way her temperature's been plummeting faster than we can manage, her organs are going to fail soon. And the burns covering her body have destroyed almost all of her nerve cells. I'm afraid there's nothing we can do."_

_"_ _Psychrophiles! Psychrophiles! Of course! Caitlin, you're a genius!"_

_"_ _Cisco, what the hell are you talking about? Do you have any idea what time it is?"_

_"_ _Three thirty in the morning, but that's not important - I know how to save Laura! Meet me at the hospital in thirty minutes! We don't have much time!"_

 

_"_ _Steady. Steady. That's good."_

_"I_ _t's incredible. I've never seen anything like this."_

_"I don't understand;_ _the blast alone should have killed her."_

_"_ _It seems that Dr. Sanders is much more durable than she appears."_

And now, ten months later, Laura was awake. Months of monitoring her systems and constantly adjusting the temperature of the tank to keep her stable had not been spent in vain. Still, the pain they'd heard in her screams would be enough to keep both of them on their toes for weeks. With a sigh each and a crick of Cisco's neck, they began the arduous process of preparing her for the outside world.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know I'm posting these chapters pretty fast, so in case anyone was wondering, I've already written out and posted at least 30 chapters on FF.net.


	3. Major Changes

_Central City, 2014_

Laura woke up with a discernable and very uncomfortable crick in her neck and the smell of anaesthetic filling her senses, neither of which did absolutely nothing for the headache growing at the back of her head. Groaning, she opened her eyes, which felt as if they'd been glued shut, only to find herself staring up at a familiar, if blurry, face.

"Cis-Cisco?"

"Oh, thank God." He sighed in relief, and Laura sat herself up, taking note of the hospital bed that was a far cry from comfortable. Her muscles protested the movement much too loudly, but Laura ignored the mounting pain and started to pull away the nasal cannula taped in place that was starting to itch, along with the multiple other probes that stuck to her arms, face and chest. However, before she could stop, Cisco's hand shot forward and grabbed her wrist before she could stop him.

"No. No way. We still need to keep an eye on your vitals."He scolded her firmly.

"Vitals? Cisco, what are you talking about?"

"Oh, good. You're awake. I need you to pee into this."

"Caitlin?" Laura just barely dodged the sample container that Caitlin shoved in her face, and held her fellow doctor at bay while Cisco appeared to give in and began to remove the multiple single probes and patches on her body. Even though she was sufficiently covered by a hospital gown, Laura felt a little bit uncomfortable wearing only a thin layer of disinfected cloth in front of people that she worked with for over four years.

"Cisco-Caitlin-guys, could you just please tell me w _hat the hell_ is going on?" They both took at least two steps at the sharp rise in her voice, but they were back almost two seconds later. Cisco looked just a tad too serious, and Caitlin - well, she was Caitlin - looked no different than when she'd last seen her.

"Okay, Laura, you're going to need to stay calm for what we're about to tell you." She nodded, feeling sufficiently calm for whatever came her way.

"You've been in a coma for ten months."

Okay, never mind. Laura was on her feet before either of them could stop her.

"Start from the beginning. _Now."_ She saw Cisco swallow, before he was standing beside her, showing her a tablet computer in his arms.

"The particle accelerator had to be put on lockdown, Laura. You were one of the only people who wasn't on the ground floor, and when they found you...well, let's just say it was bad." Caitlin explained steadily as Cisco, with all the grace of a daddy long legs, flipped through his tablet until he found what he was looking for.

"This...this is you. Well, a thermal reading of you, taken two days ago." Laura watched as Cisco brought up an image, a silhouette really, that vaguely resembled her. She recognized it as a thermograph, designed to detect body temperature. Most of them, when taken of people or living things, displayed the subject and the varying degrees of radiation that they were exhibiting, commonly in shades ranging from red to yellow. However, as she stared at hers, Laura realized why Cisco had hesitated to show it to her.

Holy crap.

"Okay, okay, okay...that's impossible. Literally."

"That's what we said. Laura, your body is operating at temperatures that would shut down the entire human biological system in minutes." She took in the information as Caitlin spoke to her, but Laura could not take her eyes off of the deep blue silhouette, without an inch of red, orange or yellow in sight. The readings on the side indicated a body temperature of 28.4 degrees Fahrenheit. If she was correct, then at that temperature, the blood in her veins should be frozen. She should also be dead. And yet, as she stood there, Laura could still hear and feel the slightly elevated beating of her heart, as if nothing had changed

"That's not all." Caitlin exclaimed suddenly, and Laura's attention was diverted to another picture that Cisco brought up. She recognized it briefly as a human genome sequence, though there were a few things that seemed out of place, circled in bright red.

"Is - is this my DNA?"

Cisco nodded vigorously. "Yeah, see, when you were d-when you were at the hospital, the doctors tried to give you some stuff that would have helped. But whatever they used didn't work, and that was because your body was actually being damaged. So, we did scans of everything we could think of to figure out why that was, and we found this."

"Parts of your DNA have been combined - spliced, really - with genes that we believe originate from the psychrophiles you were working on the night of explosion. The blue parts represent the genes that we were able to identify."

Wait. Wait, what?

"My DNA was _spliced_? Spliced? That's insane. You're insane."

"Laura, I know it sounds crazy, but the theories in your notes about its survival functions actually explain why you're able to function normally with such a low body temperature. Since the psychrophiles from the ice were destroyed in the explosion, we weren't actually able to run any tests. But, we were able to determine from the recovered DNA that in a real-world environment, this bacteria would be able to maintain an inner body temperature close to that of its natural habitat in order to survive virtually indefinitely."

"So, what you're saying is that my DNA has been mixed with the DNA of a now-extinct microorganism, and that I'm going to have to live with a sub-zero internal body temperature?"

When Caitlin and Cisco didn't respond within the next thirty seconds, Laura could guess the answer without any doubt.

"...wonderful."

 

Laura had been very shocked, to say the least, when Caitlin and Cisco had filled her in about the rest of the incident. Seventeen people had been reported dead that night, and the building that had once been a gleaming beacon of knowledge and technology for the world to see was now an empty husk, with only the former control room of the particle accelerator kept running to keep Laura alive. And apparently one other person. Being as curious as she was, Laura had questioned Cisco about who had been in the other bed, just a few meters away from her own, the one that she just barely caught a glimpse of before he pulled her out the door, but the only answer she got was: "In due time."

Now, in a small coffee shop in the downtown of her home city, wearing clothes that Caitlin kept at the lab if work called for it, Laura was just a tad more than uncomfortable. Cisco had suggested that she relax before heading home to her apartment, and begrudgingly, she had accepted.

"What's wrong?" Cisco asked from across the table in the back of the small shop.

 _Apparently my ability to hide away my emotions has weakened during my coma._ "Just...it's weird, you know? Ten months of my life, gone. Seventeen people dead. This whole thing with my DNA. It's like I've stepped into the Twilight Zone."

Cisco nodded and slurped at his coffee. Normally, she would have chided him for drinking more than three cups, but he seemed to need it, if the dark circles under his eyes were anything to go by. Or maybe the coffee was making things worse, as it usually did.

"But you don't feel it, right? Like, you don't have the urge to go spend the rest of your life in a meat locker? Or go swimming in the Arctic?" Laura shook her head in exasperation, hiding a smile at Cisco's crack behind her mug. To be honest, in the months before the explosion, she had distanced herself from him and her other colleagues, mainly because her desire to discover the organisms that were now extinct was so strong. Before she'd gotten the grant for the ice, she had only been able to call him an acquaintance while enjoying his jokes and his quirks from afar. They'd never been officially 'friends', but Laura could not imagine any situation in which she would not stand by Cisco.

"No. Just a bit cold, that's all." Laura shrugged. They fell into a slightly awkward silence moments later, soothed by the chatter of the other customers. As Cisco checked his phone, glancing up at her apologetically, Laura raised her cup to her mouth, intending to take a sip of her hot chocolate. However, her lips only meet cold, hard ice.

"Shit!" She cried out and dropped the cup on to the table, where it shattered into pieces, bits of frozen hot chocolate mingling with jagged pieces of porcelain. Cisco jumped back in his seat, letting out a shout of his own, and the entire shop went silent. His eyes screamed at her for an answer, but all Laura was capable of doing was staring back at him, her hands clutched tightly to her chest as her vocal cords refused to work.

Silently, the two of them stood up from the table, ignoring the curious piercing stares sent their way by the other customers. While Laura stepped outside into the chilly October air, Cisco paid for the damaged cup, emerging a few minutes later with a look on his face that could only be translated as _What the fuck?_

"I don't know what happened, I swear. One minute, and the next..." He didn't say a word as she struggled to find her words, and his eyes shifted away from her face to her hands, his brow narrowing to form what she recognized as his 'thinking face'. After a few long minutes, he turned on his heels and entered the store again, exiting shortly afterwards with a water bottle. He didn't ask her to follow him, but she didn't anyway, hardly registering the fact that he was leading her into the alley behind the coffee shop.

"I have a theory. It's practically impossible, but from what I've seen this past month, that's no longer true - so I need you to hold this." He thrust out the water bottle towards her, and Laura hesitated for a second. The lingering memory of the shattered cup forced its way to the front of her brain, bringing back memories of shattered beer bottles and shouting and nights spent hiding in her bedroom closet. With a heavy swallow, she grabbed the bottle. Almost instantly, there was a change. It wasn't noticeable at first, but as they watched, Laura and Cisco could see the water inside the bottle start to _freeze_.

The white of the frozen water traveled through the rest of the bottle quickly after that, and Laura had to hold it by the cap when the bottle started to crack with the resulting expansion. When it was done, neither Laura nor Cisco could find any words to say as they stared at each other. Finally, Cisco spoke.

"We have _got_ to tell Caitlin."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Remember, reviews are always welcome!


	4. Below Zero

"Okay, run through it one more time, and then we can take a break."

"Caitlin, you said the _exact_ same thing thirty minutes ago."

"And your point is?"

"...nothing."

Laura sighed, ignoring the feeling of a piercing glare on the back of her head, and reached for another water bottle. It had been almost an hour since she and Cisco had returned to S.T.A.R. Labs, and since then Caitlin had blocked her every attempt to take a break from freezing bottle after bottle. Even though she knew that the tests were for her own benefit, it was a bit difficult for Laura to not feel like some sort of circus animal, performing the same trick over and over again for someone else to enjoy.

However, just as the water in the bottle began to freeze, an unfamiliar, high-pitched whirring drew Laura's attention to the far end of the room. Out of the corner of her eyes, she could see both Cisco and Caitlin stiffen minutely before regaining their composure, and Laura returned her gaze to the doorway, where a familiar face was just starting to emerge from the shadows.

"Dr....Dr. Wells?" Laura breathed, almost unable to believe her eyes. The last time she'd seen Harrison Wells, it had been mere hours from the activation of the accelerator, his calm exterior doing absolutely nothing to hide the excitement everyone in the building had been feeling that night. Now, the man radiated only an aura of exhaustion and weariness that she supposed only the people closest to him would be able to witness. Even though she'd known him for over five years, up until that exact moment he had continued to maintain an appearance that could only be defined as professional and occasionally aloof - arrogant, even. And she couldn't even _begin_ to process the wheelchair.

"Dr. Sanders. I'm glad to see you've finally awoken. Cisco, Caitlin, care to explain?" His attention was momentarily diverted by the large pile of water bottles on the trolley that Caitlin had brought out.

"We-we were just testing Laura's new abilities."

"Abilities, you say?" One of his eyebrows quirked up.

Suddenly, one of her hands was gripped tightly in Dr. Wells', and even as the tips of his fingers started to turn white, he still held on, closely examining every inch of skin available to him. When he finally let go, Laura was relieved to see the tips of his fingers turn from white to bright red before slowly returning to their normal colour. She had not been looking forward to giving her former employer frostbite.

" _Fascinating_."

"That's what I said," Caitlin exclaimed as she joined the two of them, "Dr. Wells, I have a theory that her internal body temperature might be transmitting through her skin. And there's a possibility that it may be linked to her emotional state."

"It appears that you might be correct, Dr. Snow. Laura, may I ask how you are feeling?"

Laura took a second, weighing her options. "Cold."

She caught the corner of his mouth lift a bit out of the corner of her eye, which could be considered a win.

"Cisco, Caitlin, we need to run some tests - less theoretical, more practical." Wells gestured to them both, and turned his chair sharply around, which left Laura standing awkwardly in the middle of the small room while they started their tasks. Quietly, Laura made her way towards the small office in the corner of the room, where Wells was currently typing on the desktop set up there. He didn't look up when she poked her head in, but when she started to enter the office, his head shot up.

"Dr. Wells?"

"Laura - how may I help you?"

"I was-was just concerned, sir. About your-you...I mean-" Laura choked as she struggled to find the right words, choosing at the last minute to instead gesture to her employer in general.

"Ah," he breathed, nodding his head in understanding, pausing in his work to direct his full attention to her, "I suppose Cisco and Caitlin wouldn't have deemed it appropriate to tell you without my consent. So, to answer your concerns, Dr. Sanders, yes, I was injured during the particle accelerator explosion, which managed to permanently paralyze me. It has been...difficult adjusting to my new situation, I must admit, but I believe it is the price I must pay for the damage done that night. But I believe that should be the least of your concerns, considering your current situation."

He was avoiding the topic, that much was clear, but the hard look in his eyes was enough to warn Laura against pressing the issue any further. "...thank you, sir. For everything you've done for me."

"No need to thank us. Now, let's see what you can do about those tests."

 

Half an hour later, Laura was having second thoughts about testing out her abilities. She stood on the edge of an ice rink in the middle of the city as Caitlin and Cisco flooded the empty rink with hoses. As Cisco had put it, bottles were easy enough, but freezing enough water to cover an entire ice rink? That would be the real test. As Cisco continued to flood the rink by himself, Caitlin made her way over to Laura, carrying a large parka in her arms.

"This is the only thing that we could find. It should resist freezing for the time being, but tell us if anything starts to happen, and we'll stop the test. Okay?" Laura nodded, and Caitlin handed her the parka, which she slipped on. As she zipped up the parka, Laura's attention was momentarily distracted by the empty space on the third finger of her left hand. Ten months ago, that was where Caitlin's fiancé, Ronnie Raymond, had placed her engagement ring, days before they had decided to announce it to the entire building. Now, it was gone.

"Caitlin?" Her fellow doctor looked up, her mouth set into a thin line, and Laura struggled for a few seconds to find the right words. She hadn't exactly been close with the other woman in the time that they had been colleagues, but she had still made an effort to know what was going on in her life. And from what she could remember, the last time she'd seen Caitlin, she'd been wearing the engagement ring that Ronnie Raymond had bought for her. 

"Your...your ring. It's gone. Is Ronnie okay?" Caitlin deflated at those words, and Laura knew then that she had hit a nerve.

"No. No, Ronnie's dead, Laura. He was...he was one of the people who died in the explosion."

"Oh... _oh_ , God. Caitlin, I'm so sorry. I didn't mean-"

"It's okay, really. I'm dealing with it. Anyway, we need to start the test soon." Laura opened her mouth to protest, to offer any comfort she could to her colleague, but Caitlin was already walking away and back towards Cisco, the sharpness in her words sending her reeling. Despite what Caitlin had assured her, the other doctor was most definitely not okay. Even the excellent Dr. Snow had feelings, despite the story her cold exterior told the world. Ronnie Raymond had proven that, and it appeared that with his death, Caitlin had retreated back into the shell he'd brought her out of.

From the end of the ice rink, Cisco gave her a thumbs up, the concrete surface of the rink covered with about two inches of water. The cooling units underneath had been shut down to properly evaluate the range of her abilities, but Laura was starting to get a bit nervous as she stepped up to the edge of the rink. With a quick glance at her colleagues, she got down on one knee and placed her hands in the water. When the water started to freeze a few moments later, it was a sight to behold. Intricate designs of frost spread throughout the rink as the water froze, and it rose just a bit as it expanded. Cisco and Caitlin made their way up to the bleachers and watched with matching expressions of awe as the water continued to freeze. Laura had to remind herself to breathe as she watched on with what was probably the same expression of wonder.

However, just as the water started to freeze past the halfway mark of the rink, it stopped. It simply just didn't go any further.

"What's going on?" Cisco yelled down at her.

"It won't go any further!"

"Maybe this is your limit!" Caitlin yelled back.

No, that wasn't it. It couldn't be. Laura wasn't exactly rooting for herself to have unlimited freezing abilities, but she was positive that whatever powers she did have, their range was much, much larger. She could feel the cold - which was completely scientifically accurate, if anybody asked - tingling underneath her skin, waiting to be let out. Then, she had an idea.

A crazy idea, sure. But an idea, nonetheless. And in science, crazy ideas were often the ones that worked the best. Laura stood up, shaking off her hands of any excess water, and focused her sights on the other half of the rink that was still waiting to be frozen. She let out a shaky breath and steeled her shoulders, stretching out her arm past the edge of the rink, straight towards the unfrozen water. As the tingling grew in her hand, becoming almost painful, Laura closed her eyes, blocking out everything she could sense but the cold. 

The bitter, numbing, painful, cold.

Laura's eyes shot open just as the cold left her hand in a stream of white light, flying across the rink and striking the water, the force of it nearly knocking her off her feet. As soon as the beam of cold hit the water, it froze instantly, the rest of it turning into ice in one-tenth of a second. Laura closed her hand as soon as the water was frozen, and reopened it after counting to five to a perfectly normal hand. 

"That. Was. Awesome!" Laura turned just in time to see Cisco barrelling towards her, a huge grin plastered on his face, and she could not suppress her own grin. It had felt amazing, and it still did, the lingering bits of power giving her an adrenaline rush she'd never experienced before. As she stripped off the parka, which appeared to have actually partially frozen along the sleeves from her little display of power, Laura's attention was diverted to Dr. Wells' presence at the top of the bleachers. Even from afar, she could still see his wry smile.

_Fascinating._

 

"I have got to say, you are my favourite metahuman right now." Cisco chuckled as he, Caitlin and Laura made their way back to what Cisco had apparently dubbed 'headquarter' at S.T.A.R. Labs.

"Metahuman?"

"Oh, right, you haven't seen the news. Well, it turns out a few other people were also affected by the particle accelerator in some pretty nasty ways; we call them metahumans. Most of them have been using them rob banks and stuff, so we've have Barry helping us take care of them."

"Wait, hold up; who's Barry?" Laura was getting more confused by the second.

"Well, um...him, actually." Caitlin stammered out just as they passed the threshold into the room, and Laura followed her gaze, turning away from Cisco to get her first glimpse of this mystery Barry.

He was tall, taller than her, at least. That wasn't too hard. Skinny, too, but it was a deceiving kind of skinny; she could just see the faint outline of muscle underneath his long-sleeved shirt; not that she'd been looking for it. The brown crop of hair on the top of his head seemed to defy gravity. He also seemed to be waiting for someone â€“ his foot was tapping so fast that she could hardly tell where the floor ended and where his foot began. As Caitlin and Cisco entered the room, his head - Barry's - shot up, and his gaze met hers, giving her the distinct feeling of a deer caught in headlights.

"I was wondering when you guys were going to get back; Dr. Wells told me on the phone that you were running some 'tests'."

"You bet we were." Cisco sounded way too proud of himself.

"So, um, who's she?" Laura had a feeling that he was referring to her, since he already seemed to know Caitlin and Cisco rather well. Still, it did seem a bit off that he wasn't asking her directly.

"Oh! Barry, this is Laura Sanders. Laura, this is Barry Allen. You too have so much in common. I've had way too much sugar, and I've got some stuff to update, so you kids have fun." And with that, Cisco left to join Caitlin at the array of computer consoles in the middle of the room, leaving Barry and Laura to apparently get to know each other better. 

"Nice to meet you. So, you work with Caitlin and Cisco?" He seemed nice enough. Not at all arrogant, just a bit...well, she couldn't really describe what type of vibe he was giving off. It just wasn't anything she'd ever experienced before. Which meant that he probably wasn't a jerk like most of the men she'd met in her line of work.

On another note: _Quick, think of a lie._

"Not really. I've been...I've been on medical leave for about ten months and I haven't yet had the time to get back to work. But, yes, I was working here before the incident." Laura regretted her choice of words almost immediately, and avoided meeting Barry's gaze as her voice trailed off into silence. Luckily, it was soon broken by him.

"That's too bad. Hey, I'm really sorry, but I've got to ask Caitlin something. It was nice meeting you, though." Barry smiled at her, and Laura smiled back before he took off after Caitlin, who had left the room. Cisco, who was sitting at his desk with his tablet propped up in front of him, looked up as Laura approached, his grin shifting into an expression of concern.

"Everything alright?"

"Oh, yeah, yeah, everything's fine...Cisco, what did you mean when you said Barry and I have _so much_ in common?"

"Oh, that. Barry has super speed."

"WHAT?"


	5. Lightning and Ice

"WHAT?"

Laura's voice echoed throughout the control room without any difficulty, and she was momentarily distracted from the incredibly important information Cisco had just presented her with as Caitlin and Barry stormed back into the room. "Cisco, what did you do?"

"Well, well, I just might have toldherBarry'ssecret." His voice reached an impressively high pitch he finished the end of his sentence, and Laura felt herself start as the confused expression on Caitlin's morphed into one of furious indignation.

"Cisco! We talked about this! We were going to tell her when they were _ready_! Neither of them are ready!" Caitlin looked absolutely furious as she stalked over to Laura and Cisco, and Laura was tempted to take a few steps to protect herself from Caitlin's wrath. Barry, however, remained silent at the doorway, his eyes comically wide and bouncing back and forth between the three and Cisco too quickly.

"I know, I know, but she asked and it just came out. But now that she knows, she can tell Barry her secret now, right?"

It didn't really work.

As Caitlin and Cisco continued to argue loud enough to bring the entire building down, Laura quietly sidled away from the two of them to join Barry, who was still looking like he was going to bolt at any moment. For a while, without looking at or speaking a word to each other, they watched Caitlin and Cisco argue so badly that eventually they unanimously decided to shuffle backwards out of the room. As the arguing died down the farther they got away, Laura turned to Barry, fighting for the right words to say in a situation that she had never expected to be in.

"So - Cisco told me that you have super speed."

Barry stopped so suddenly that he very nearly face-planted on the floor. It was lucky that he didn't, judging by how hard the concrete felt underneath her borrowed sneakers, and she turned back to check on him.

"Super-super speed? That's ridiculous, completely ridiculous, why, why would he say that?" Barry was suddenly talking faster than Laura could comprehend, and as he continued to ramble on and on to himself, Laura stepped a bit closer towards him. She avoided reaching out to him because at that second, he looked as if he were going to go into a full-blown panic attack.

"Barry, it's okay. I'm a metahuman too. I think."

"Really?"

"Well, I'm not entirely sure what I'd call myself. I just found out this morning that Iâ€™m not so normal either. Really not normal, actually. But, hey, I'll show you mine if you show me yours."

Slowly, Barry looked up, and she could see the gears in his head starting to turn, slowly but surely. Laura couldn't stop a grin from working its way on to her face as she watched. Maybe being a 'metahuman' wouldn't be so bad after all. 

 

"Are you sure about this?"

"Positive."

Laura was practically brimming with nervous energy as she and Barry entered the abandoned warehouse that S.T.A.R. Labs had used to store some of their outdated or incoming equipment in, only a few miles away from the official building. Now, it was empty, with nothing a few wooden pallets scattered around to keep the mice company. The electricity had apparently been cut off, but there was enough light shining in through the windows that both Laura and Barry could see where they were going. Barry looked a bit nervous, possibly about showing a complete stranger whatever the accelerator had done to him, but Laura could not care less. The thought of the adrenaline rush from earlier that day made it all the more exciting.

"Okay, you first." Barry nodded and stepped back a bit. Laura watched as he bounced up and down on the balls of his feet for a few seconds, building up into a light jog, and she was just about to ask him what was wrong when he suddenly disappeared in a flash of yellow lightning. The resulting wind nearly blew her off her feet, sending her hair flying in multiple different directions, and almost a second later, he returned, his face lit up with what could only be described pure, unadulterated joy. For a moment, she was speechless; she was also pretty sure that her brain had stopped functioning. Cisco wasn't wrong when he said Barry had super speed.

"...holy crap."

"Now, come on, I want to see you. I mean I want to see your abilities."

Laura had to stop for a moment to think. "What else would you mean?"

"Nothing-just go ahead."

Laura smirked at the embarrassed tone in his voice, and faced the wall farthest from her as she focused on the cool air that filled the warehouse. Suddenly, the temperature around her started to drop, and Laura caught her breath turning into mist over the bridge of her nose. With as much energy as she could muster, she directed her hand towards the far wall of the warehouse. The beam of frigid energy that burst from her hand was much more powerful than the one at the ice rink, and Barry stumbled back with a yelp as it flew past him. Laura reigned it in as a wave of dizziness overtook her, but the blast continued until it hit its target, covering most of the wall in a thick layer of clear ice.

"Whoa." Barry breathed, sounding more than a little bit awed, but as Laura started to sway on her feet, he zoomed over to her and held her upright. Her vision flickered in and out a few times, but after several moments, the feeling passed and she was able to stand on her own again. 

"I guess I'm still a little new at this."

"Tell me about it. I passed out my second day out of my coma and fell off of Cisco' treadmill. Packing peanuts _everywhere_." Laura couldn't stop herself from chuckling at the thought, and Barry laughed breathlessly, probably still a little bit giddy.

"So...do you think they've stopped fighting yet?"

"They'd better have, or I'm going to lock them into a room and make them work it out."

 

"So, the radiation from the explosion irradiated the clouds above the lab the night of the incident, creating a thunderstorm which created a lightning bolt that struck you at the same time you were doused in chemicals, which somehow accelerated all of your bodily functions and now allows you to run over three hundred miles per hour?"

"Yup. Your turn."

"Well, I was working on discovering a new type of microorganism when the explosion went off, and the DNA of that organism is now actually fused with my own DNA, making me a weird genetic hybrid that can freeze things from afar and apparently maintain a sub-zero internal temperature without my blood freezing in my veins."

"...okay, you win."

Laura smirked to herself as she and Barry lounged in the office chairs they'd temporarily borrowed from Cisco and Caitlin's desks. They'd returned to the lab almost an hour ago, and somehow, Cisco and Caitlin had still managed to keep their fight going for what was now bordering on a world record. It was starting to get a bit annoying, but then Barry had produced Cisco's special stash of Twizzlers and they were now watching the fight, which had moved into one of the side rooms, eating the candy as if the second-largest fight her colleagues had ever had were a movie.

"Hey, Laura?"

"Yeah?"

"Do you think we should break them up? I have a family dinner I need to be at in, like, thirty minutes."

"...aw, and miss the big finale?"

She heard Barry chuckle behind her as she stood up, and she briefly considered freezing him to the chair as she walked over to the room. Caitlin and Cisco were so deep in their argument that they didn't notice Laura opening the door.

"Guys-guys! It's been almost an hour. I told Barry, Barry told me. So, can we please wrap things up already?" She didn't mean to sound so sharp, but it did the trick. Caitlin and Cisco froze, cheeks flushed in embarrassment and shock; a minute passed before they took turns mumbling apologies to each other, and she gestured for them to exit the room, which they did begrudgingly. As they did so, Barry stood up and brushed any stray crumbs of candy off his lap.

"Well, I've to get going. It was great getting to know you, Laura."

"You too, Barry." was all Laura managed to get out before he disappeared in a streak of red and yellow, and her words were lost in the blast of wind that followed. When the wind finally died down, Laura turned to Caitlin and Cisco, who seemed a bit less on edge than they did before, which was completely fine by her.

"So. Metahumans, huh?"

 

Several hours later, Laura wandered into her apartment. Just like Dr. Wells had promised, nothing appeared to be out of place, although Laura's memory was a bit fuzzy considering the circumstances. The only thing that was new was a fresh bowl of fruit on the kitchen counter and a stack of mail that towered by the door; apparently, Caitlin and Cisco had visited the place weekly while she was unconscious. With a sigh, she dragged herself towards the bedroom, also unchanged, and groggily changed for bed, relishing in the familiar feeling of her favourite pyjamas settling around her. Using her new powers all day had surprisingly drained her to the point of becoming comatose again, and she made a mental reminder that using her them took an enormous physical toll on her.

As she settled into bed, Laura's mind drifted to how much her life had changed in the course of a day. Before the explosion, she had been making breakthroughs in the world of microbiology that might have won her a Nobel Prize, if she was being idealistic. Now, she was living a life that was straight out of the pages of a good - or terrible - science fiction novel, and looking at herself, she was taking it rather calmly. Then again, she'd never really been the type of person to have a breakdown. At least, not for a while.

But as she drifted off into sleep, the only thought on Laura's mind was that, overall, despite all the craziness she had encountered in the last 24 hours, it had been a pretty good day.


	6. Welcome to the Team

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Reviews and comments are always, always welcome!

"Okay, so last night I was working on a fabric that wouldn't freeze when you used your powers, and I came up with this."

"You called me here for a jacket? Cisco, do - do you have _any_ idea what time it is?"

Laura was having a hard time keeping her eyes open, or even being civil. At six in the morning, her phone, one of her many possessions which had been replaced since the incident, had rung rather loudly, and the only thing she'd been able to make out of Cisco's caffeine induced babble was that he wanted her at the lab, as fast as possible. Now, just as the sun was starting to rise over Central City, he wheeled out a mannequin wearing a black leather outfit into the main room, and she was starting to wonder just how much caffeine he'd had, as well as the effects of caffeine on sanity. The answer probably wasn't safe for non-Cisco-Ramon humans. Or him.

"Not just any jacket, Laura. It's a special blend of carbon fiber and polymer that should be able to withstand anything from 15 degrees to 24 degrees Fahrenheit. Oh, and it comes with matching pants."

Despite the fog of sleep that still crowded her mind, Laura found it impossible not to get mad at Cisco's unbridled enthusiasm for his project, and held out her arms as he removed the set from the mannequin and handed them over to her. Both the jacket and the pants were a sleek black, and neither were very heavy, but they weren't insubstantial. There was also apparently a pair of black combat boots made of the same stuff Cisco had mentioned, and Laura fought down the urge to ask him how he knew her foot size.

"Oh, I also calculated that the intensity of the light from your ice blasts would eventually cause blindness within three to four years, so I made you these." Cisco held up a pair of goggles with a black rim and a pair of piercing blue lenses. "The filters will keep your eyes safe and protected so you won't get glaucoma in, like, five weeks."

"...wow, Cisco. I can't believe you did all of this."

"Are you going to try it on?"

"Oh, definitely. As soon as _you_ sit down and get some _sleep_."

"m' fine, really." He answered with a yawn, losing all coherency in a matter of seconds, and Laura smiled knowingly to herself as she guided him towards his desk.

"Alright, Cisco. Just sit tight." Laura patted him on the shoulder as she sat her friend down in his desk chair, propping up a pillow from one of the hospital beds behind his head, and ducked into an alcove to change. The jacket and pants fit comfortably and weren't too big, and the boots were so comfortable she was legitimately considering wearing them with everything. The goggles were a bit tight, but as she soon found out, the strap was adjustable â€“ as were the filters. All in all, Cisco had done a fantastic job. When she changed back into her regular clothes and re-entered the lab, Cisco was snoring loud enough to scare off an entire herd of bears. She carefully folded up the jacket and pants while he slept and put them in her handbag, but decided to keep the boots on. Normally, she would have never worn cargo boots, much less so much black. But they had already grown on her, and she was never one to let such fine engineering go to waste.

"Sleep tight, Cisco." She whispered to him and smiled as his snores grew louder, and she left the room with a kick in her step.

 

Later that morning, Laura was sitting in Jitters, a coffee shop that she recognized only from the multiple coffee cups decorating Cisco's desk and workspace. The place was a bit too modern for her taste, with its white concrete walls and square _everything_ , but the people at the cash were rather friendly, especially the waitress, Iris, who brought her the muffin and coffee she'd ordered. The copy of Central City Picture News she'd picked up on her way was propped up in her lap when Iris came by, and Laura was so focused on one article that she barely noticed her approach.

"Must be a pretty interesting article. More coffee?"

 _Mysterious Graffiti May Be Linked to New Gang_   - she had to admit that the article was indeed riveting, although the fact that Central City's gang activity could be spiking soon was more than a bit unnerving.

"Yeah, thanks. Just trying to catch up on current events; I've...I've been out of town for a while now."

"Well, I'll leave you to it then."

As Iris left, Laura's attention was drawn towards a small article in the back of the newspaper. According to the author, a red streak had been seen saving the civilians of Central City, going so far as to pull people from burning buildings and incapacitate robbers on behalf of the police. There wasn't much to go by in ways of description, but a certain brunette speedster she had recently met came to mind. So, it seemed that Barry was using his powers to fight crime. That was admirable, if she allowed herself to think about it in a positive light. Reckless and potentially life-threatening. But admirable, nonetheless. 

When she was finally done with the paper, Laura quickly finished what was left of her muffin, and folded up the newspaper, which she placed in her bag alongside her jacket and pants. However, once she was outside of Jitters, Laura was at a complete loss of what to do. Since S.T.A.R. Labs had been officially closed down, she was officially out of a job and out of anything to keep her occupied, or self-sufficient. As she mentally ran through a list of possible remedies to her situation, she walked for a while, turning down random streets and mulling over her options, and just as she decided it was time to return home, Laura's phone started to ring.

"Hello?"

 **_"_ ** **_Laura?"_**

"Cisco?"

 **_"_ ** **_Yeah. Are you okay?"_  **

"Of course, I'm okay. Why wouldn't I be okay?"

**_"Police scanners just picked a robbery and hostage situation nearby you. We were worried you'd been hurt."_  **

"Oh. Wait, how do you know where I am?"

 **_"...I_ ** **_haven't been tracking you, if that's what you were about to ask."_**

Well, didn't his voice go suspiciously high.

"Can't the mysterious red streak handle it?"

**_"Oh, you've heard. Yeah, unfortunately, he's dealing with some drag racers down by the lake. Do you think you can take care of this guy?"_  **

"What, stop the robbery? Cisco, I can't even do a proper roundhouse kick. What do you expect me to do?"

**_"Relax, it's just one guy. If you don't go full freeze, it should be enough to incapacitate him."_ **

"...fine. Just give me a minute to change. But we _are_ going to talk when I get back."

Barely two minutes later, Laura was sprinting through the back alleys of downtown Central City, straight towards the bank whose address Cisco had provided her with. Her bag was safely stashed away, but as the police sirens grew louder and louder, she started to sprint faster, a little voice in the back of her head reminding that there was little time to spare in situations such as these. When she finally reached the main street, Laura could just barely see beyond the wall of police cruisers the criminal in question walking out of the bank, a gun pressed to the temple of a woman, who was shaking and most likely in shock.

She heard one officer yell over a loudspeaker for the robber to let his hostage go, and the robber turned towards the source of the voice, momentarily distracted. Her hands were shaking, but she stilled them and took her chance.

Laura slipped through the blockade of officers, most of them focused on the problem at hand, their guns all pointed directly at the robber and his hostage. Nobody noticed her until she was almost a quarter of the way to the gunman, when one by one, the officers began to call out to her. The robber spun around, the red of his eyes indicating that he was probably high on something, and Laura's hands flew up, ideally, to protect herself as he pulled the trigger. The gun went off with a shattering bang, and Laura flinched, waiting for the inevitable impact, but she felt nothing at all. Slowly, she opened her eyes, and barely managed to rein in her gasp when she saw what had happened.

A wall of ice, about as tall as herself and as wide as her shoulders, had apparently risen up out of the ground in front of her. She could quite clearly see the bullet, frozen in the ice like a fly fossilized in amber, and Laura would have given it more thought if she'd had the time. The robber was still silent, his drug-addled brain distracted by the sudden appearance of what must have seemed like a hallucination, and she quickly sidestepped the wall just as he was starting to come back to reality. As he turned towards her, Laura aimed her hand downward, bracing herself as she felt the cold begin to burst forth from her palm.

"Ah, ah, shit!" He screamed as the blast hit his feet and formed a thick layer of ice over them, the pain overriding what little rational thought he had left, and as he howled in pain, the woman broke free and was quickly scooped up by the officers. Laura could only watch, the scream drowning out all other thoughts, as the officers swarmed him, handcuffing him even though he was doubled over in pain and frozen to the concrete, the dictionary definition of useless. Nobody seemed to even notice her as the crowd thickened, and she supposed it was just as well. Just as she was starting to get caught up in the commotion, her hands shaking almost violently, Laura suddenly found herself moving so fast she couldn't even think straight, before she was standing in the middle of S.T.A.R. Labs.

The man who stood before her was dressed in a suit made entirely out of red, a bolt of gold lightning emblazoned on his chest, and a cowl that hid his face but not his eyes nor his lower jaw, which made it fairly easy to recognize him immediately.

"Barry?"

"Are you okay?" He asked her insistently, as Cisco and Caitlin appeared from nowhere and led her towards a gurney set up at the far end of the room.

"Yeah, just a little nauseous, but I'll be fine. Cisco, any chance we could have a talk? In _private_?" He froze on the spot, suddenly looking like a deer caught in headlights, but he let her lead him towards the hallway at any rate.

"Okay, you've been tracking me. Why?" Laura didn't want to sound angry towards really anybody at the moment, especially towards Cisco, but the adrenaline in her system was pretty high and her voice came out sharper than she would have liked.

"I-it was just in case something happened to you, so I would know where you were. I mean, it helped, didn't it? God, I'm so sorry." He suddenly very sounded tired and very ashamed of himself, and as she looked at him, Laura felt her anger quickly leave her. Cisco had been looking out for her - he had spent ten months watching over her, probably wondering whether she was going to wake up or spend the rest of her life as a vegetable. He hadn't meant any harm, he never did. That's what made him Cisco. He probably hadn't even had a decent amount of sleep this week. Now, she was the one who felt ashamed, and rightly so.

"Come here." Cisco looked confused for a moment, until Laura opened her arms wide, and he stepped forward until his head was resting on her shoulder. When they finally pulled apart, he looked a lot more like himself again. "Cisco, you don't have to apologize, not about this. Just...just tell me the next time, okay?"

Cisco nodded and cracked a smile at her - Laura was infinitely glad to see the familiar Cisco spark in his eyes returned - and she followed him back to the main room, where Barry and Caitlin were waiting in silence.

"So, you saved a life today. How does it feel?" Barry asked her as she approached him, and Laura took a moment to think. Everything was still so hectic inside of her head, it was hard to tell whether it had all been a dream or whether she had actually frozen a man's feet to the ground.

"Good, I guess. I never thought I'd see the day where I had to take down a robber, but apparently that day has come."

"Yeah, I mean, I used to catch criminals with the police, but that was just from my lab. You did really good out there today, Laura.

"Indeed; excellent work out there today, Dr. Sanders." All four of them turned to face Dr. Wells as he entered the room, and Laura was pleasantly surprised by the small smile on his face, despite the wary look in his eyes. "I must admit, for your first time in the field, you did exceptionally. Perhaps you would consider joining our little team?"

"Team?"

Cisco butted in before anyone else could explain. "A lot of people have been affected by the particle accelerator, and the police aren't able to deal with them. And even with the streak around, the city still needs help. Barry's been going out in the suit for a few months now. You could join us; work with us. If you want to, I mean."

The room went silent. Laura couldn't find any words to express the turmoil of emotions inside her head. Barely ten minutes ago, she had taken down a criminal and saved a person's life. The image of the robber howling in pain was still burned fresh in her mind. She knew that she should probably respond, but she wasn't entirely that what would come out make sense. So she remained silent. After a while, Dr. Wells spoke for her.

"Caitlin, Cisco, Barry; could we have a moment alone?"

"Of course, Dr. Wells."

Laura let Dr. Wells lead her out of the room, as Barry, Caitlin and Cisco started to talk about the robbery. He was silent as he continued throughout the hallways of his formerly prosperous research center, and Laura had the vague sense that she was trespassing into a sensitive area. When they finally exited the maze of doorways and halls, Laura recognized where they were. The walkway she and Dr. Wells were travelling along had once overlooked the viewing section of the particle accelerator, the one place in the entire building deemed safe enough to show to the public. Now, below them, Laura could only see twisted, charred metal that looked nothing like what it had once been, only a grotesque mockery of the lives it had taken. 

"Laura, I have done many, many questionable things in my life. Seventeen people died the night of the particle accelerator explosion, all because I was too blind to see that the accelerator wasn't ready to be used. I thought that I would spend the rest of my days in a wheelchair, condemned by the world to suffer for everything I did to cause this much pain. But then Mr. Allen woke up. And I realized that the explosion didn't just destroy lives, that it made something good. It made him. And it made you, Laura. I know that this must sound so strange to you, but I believe that there is a reason you survived the explosion. I believe that you can do so much good for this world, Laura, and if you don't want to, none of us will push you. But I don't think someone like you would ever pass up the chance to save lives. And you know it too."

Laura mulled over his words as they stood there in silence, and after a long time, she knew exactly what she needed to say.

"I've been changed in so many ways. Just yesterday I learned that my DNA has been spliced with an extinct species of bacteria. I can freeze things just by touching them, and literally blast cold from my hands. My life won't ever be normal again, not by a long shot, and the one thing that would have put me on the map is now a part of me. But today, I realized something. I realized that my life isn't over just yet; that I can still make a difference in this world. Honestly, it's not my first option. But there is a part of me that wouldn't be comfortable knowing that I could have done something, that I could have saved someone's life, if I just stood by and watched"

"So, is that your answer?"

"I think so."

"Very well. I suppose I should tell Cisco that you're going to need a nickname."

"Nickname?"

"It's his newest hobby."

 

"Icicle."

"No."

"Absolute Zero."

"Catchy, but it's a bit long."

"That's why I said Icicle!"

"And I already said no. Moving on."

Laura could not be more frustrated. She and Cisco were sitting across from each other at a table in Jitters, a pile of crumpled papers growing between them as Cisco scrapped sheet after sheet from a small notepad he'd brought along with him. The number of names for a hero with ice powers was getting a bit ridiculous, and some of them were already taken, most of them by crazies in other cities that had shown up during her coma. Still, each and every one of the names Cisco had proposed so far irked Laura somehow.

"Alright...how about Killer Frost?"

"Really? _Killer_ Frost? That's the name I'm going to use when I save people? They'll run away screaming, Cisco."

"This is harder than I thought. I mean, Captain Cold, the Mist, those were easy - they just came to me. But you, there are so many different things to think about. And you actually have input in this."

Laura just chuckled as Cisco gathered up the balls of paper and made his way over the garbage to throw them out, just as Barry slipped inside, five minutes late. It was a bit of any oxymoron that the fastest man alive could be late for _anything_ , but it did provide many great opportunities to joke about it at his expense. She waved him over, and he sat down just as Cisco returned, already completely immersed in his brainstorming.

"So, I guess the name game's stumping Cisco, huh?"

"Yeah. Apparently people with ice powers are a lot harder to name than a guy who can turn himself into mist. At least it's fun to watch."

Barry and Laura chuckled softly, watching Cisco with amused smiles as he sat down, muttering to himself under his breath, and looked up as their waitress came over. Laura recognized her - Iris -  from that morning, but she was mildly surprised to see that Iris was focused intently on Barry. 

"Barry, hey. You going to introduce me to your new friend?"

"Oh right. Iris, this is Laura Sanders. Laura, this is Iris West."

"I know." Barry suddenly looked less happy to see Iris and a bit more confused, looking between the two women, and Laura decided to step in before he stopped talking for too long. "I met Iris this morning. I thought I'd try Jitters out, since Cisco seems to like it so much."

"Right. That makes sense."

"So, wait, Laura, how do you know Barry?" They both froze for a split second, possible explanations that were the farthest thing from the truth running through both of their minds. In the end, it was Laura who spoke first.

"I actually used to work at S.T.A.R. Labs with Cisco and Caitlin. But...um...when the incident happened, I had to take some time off. I just got back a few days ago."

"Ten months off work? How did you survive?"

"It - it honestly defies explanation."

"Okay, well, it was nice to see you again, Laura. Bye, Barry."

As Iris left to go serve some other late-night customers, Laura turned to Barry, only to see him watching the other woman intently. There was a lost, longing look in his eyes, something akin to desperation and deprivation, and Laura was itching to figure out what was bothering him, so she decided to take the direct approach.

"So, what's the deal with you and Iris? How do you guys know each other?" Barry's head whipped around so fast Laura almost got whiplash herself, and she suppressed a chuckle at the wide-eyed expression she was starting to get familiar with.

"Um, well, Iris is my adoptive sister. Her dad, Joe, was the one who adopted me after my...after my mom died." As he faltered, Barry's eyes dropped to the table, and the smile that had been working its way up on to her face suddenly faded, and Laura couldn't help but feel a bit ashamed that she had been laughing at him. She knew the ache of losing a mother, of losing a parent in general, and she wished that she had the nerve to comfort him, but her memories of the night she'd lost own mother were starting to grow in strength.

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have said anything. Cisco, you come up with a name for Laura yet?" Laura was surprised by how well Barry threw off the sadness she had just witnessed, even though he stumbled a bit over his words as he tried to return to their previous conversation, and she wondered briefly as they both turned to Cisco how many times he'd had to put himself through something like that. It saddened her, and even though she wouldn't be able to say it out loud, Laura empathized with Barry; far too many times had she had to do the same thing to avoid breaking down.

"What? No, no, not yet. Actually, there is one name we haven't tried yet. It's a bit out there, but I think it'll work itself out."

"Okay. Hit me."

"... _Frostbite_."

Frostbite. Laura couldn't even voice how much she liked it. Something about it just seemed right â€“ it rolled of the tongue, and it didn't make her sound like a complete psycho with a fetish for ice cubes.

"Frostbite and the Flash. I like your style, Cisco. I'll take it."

"Well, I guess it's settled then. Welcome to the team, Frostbite."


	7. Out of the Fire

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading, you guys - remembers, reviews and/or comments are always welcome!

Laura awoke from a peaceful, dreamless sleep to someone knocking rapidly on her door. She groaned as the sleep that she had been enjoying very thoroughly quickly slipped away, and as the knocking continued, she forced herself out of bed and into the hallway. As the sun rose, her apartment started to fill with light, once more feeling like the home it had become, and she shuffled towards the door, the noise starting give her a headache. When she finally managed to open the door, Laura found herself momentarily speechless to find Barry standing there, looking far too alert considering the sun was just starting to rise. She wondered whether it was because of his speed or whether he was just naturally hyperactive.

Probably the speed.

"Barry, I haven't even looked at my watch yet and I already know it's too early for house calls, so please, make it quick."

"Sorry, I didn't realize, but I was thinking about the fact that you no longer have a job, and I was wondering if you would consider something...police related."

For a few moments, Laura was pretty sure her brain had stopped working. "Di - did you get me a job?"

"Close; I got you a job _interview_. Joe was talking about how the precinct was short of CSIs for the day shift, and I thought it might be something you'd be good at."

"But if I'm, you know, being a metahuman and all, won't they notice I'm gone all the time?"

"Not exactly. Joe knows about my powers, so we could always work something out. I guess I could also bring you with me, if you don't get nauseous easily."

Laura wasn't entirely sure how Barry had managed to get into her apartment, only that she had now backed up several paces and that he had followed her in, and that she was wearing pajamas while he was wearing an outfit that looked like something _someone with a job_ would wear.

"Coffee?"

"Sure." He grinned, a bit oblivious about the relative absurdity of the whole situation, and sat himself down at the counter as she turned on the brewer and the kitchen light. "Nice place."

"Yeah, well, I had to work my way through university, and that meant sharing a thin-walled two-bedroom apartment with a classmate who had a _very_ active sex life. So, I promised myself that when I had enough money, I would get my own apartment. And when I started working at S.T.A.R. Labs, I never had to share an apartment again." Barry chuckled into his hand as the brewer's green light came on and she poured them both two steaming mugs. The silence that filled the space as they drank their coffee was comfortable and not at all awkward, if Laura was being optimistic, but when she finally put down the coffee, she felt a lot better about facing the day.

"So, what time is this interview?"

"Um...oh, _crap_ , in like, fifteen minutes."

"What? Why didn't you say something?" Laura nearly choked on her coffee in her shock. "Jesus, Allen!"

"It's okay - just change quickly and I'll run you there."

Ten minutes later, Laura and Barry came to a stop outside of the Central City Police Department. Luckily, she was exceptionally skilled at making herself look good with little time to spare, and the dress suit she was wearing was only slightly wrinkled from the sudden burst in speed, though it did take a few moments to stop Barry's shoes from smoking. Once that was under control, Barry led her inside, and as they walked towards the stairs that led up to the bullpen, Laura caught sight of the large golden mural that loomed over the lobby, and for a moment, she felt as if she were twelve years old again.

 _"_ _Is my dad in trouble?"_

"Coming?" Laura was shaken out of memory lane as Barry called to her from the top of the stairs, and she did her best to rush in her short yet somehow increasingly uncomfortable heels. As they approached the conference room through the empty bull pen, Laura realized that she was shaking minutely, and cursed herself silently.

"You okay?"

"I'm fine, just some pre-interview jitters. Should we catch up afterwards?"

"Sure, just text me when you're done."

"Wait, I don't-" Laura was abruptly cut off as Barry disappeared in a burst of yellow lightning, "-have your number."

He was lucky that it was early; she really didn't have the energy to go after him. With an exasperated sigh, she turned back towards the door and knocked soundly on it. After a few moments of listening to the detective shuffle around papers, the door opened.

"Dr. Sanders, Detective Joe West; Barry tells me that you're interested in a forensic position with the police. Please, come in."

 

"Thank you, Detective West. I really appreciate you taking the time to see me."

"No problem. Our CSI division is really lacking, and we could always use an extra pair of hands on deck. You'll receive a phone call in a week or two."

"Of course; thank you again, Detective."

"My pleasure."

As soon as Joe closed the door behind him, Laura very nearly collapsed to the floor; she settled instead for leaning against the nearest wall and closing her eyes. Never had she been so vigorously questioned about her personal life - she was just grateful that he hadn't asked about her childhood or her family, or there would have been a lot more difficult questions to answer. With a deep breath, she steadied herself and made her way through the bull pen, which was now starting to fill up with officers who ignored her as she passed them. She remembered Barry telling her to meet him at his lab, but she wasn't quite sure where that was. Or how to get there.

Pretty much the same problem, she told herself.

"Hi, sorry to bother you, do you think you could help me?" She asked to an officer who was sitting at his desk. He looked up, and Laura could immediately tell that he needed much more than coffee.

"With what?" So he was a bit rude. She couldn't blame him.

"I'm looking for Barry Allen."

"Ah, Allen. Down the stairs, take the elevators at the front desk. His lab's on the top floor." He grunted.

"Thank you."

A few minutes later, Laura stepped out of said elevator into a relatively large red brick room with a sun roof. The entire floor was a maze of tables stacked with towers of papers and boxes as high as her head. It was ultimately very chaotic, but as she made her way through the labyrinth, she was surprised to see a modicum of organization in the mess. It just made it clear that the Central City Police Department wasn't putting as much focus on their forensic department as they should be, especially if Barry was one of the only CSIs on the day shift.

"Barry?"

"Back here!"

As she rounded the corner of a table, Laura caught sight of Barry holding up a test tube. The goggles that he had strapped on looked ridiculous, and she bit back a smirk as she approached him. "What're you working on?"

"Just trying to isolate a compound from a cocktail this one guy was given the night of his death; it's like trying to find a needle in a haystack. Oh, wait, how did the interview go?"

"Great, but I felt like we were playing 20 Questions. I've never had to think so hard about what day my birthday is." Laura leant against one of the brick columns in the lab as Barry added a few chemicals before he put the tube into a centrifuge and pressed the button. As he took the goggles off and peeled off his gloves, Laura caught sight of what looked like a police board in the back of the lab, complete with newspaper clippings. As she approached it, however, Laura's eyes caught sight of the headlines of said clippings. They were all of the same thing, set in the same year.

Nora Allen's murder by her husband Henry.

"Barry, your mother...what happened?"

He didn't respond, and Laura turned around after a few long moments to see him staring at the board from his workspace, staring right through her. There was an air around him, as if he'd carried around a burden for so long that simply talking about it made it that much heavier. With a dull ache just barely registering in her chest, she sat down on the chair next to him. "You don't have to say."

When Barry finally spoke, his voice was hoarse.

"I was eleven."

"The...the clippings say your dad did it."

"That's not true, Laura. He didn't. I - I saw who killed him that night."

"What?"

"The man in yellow. Another speedster; someone like me."

"Jesus."

"Tell me about it. When I got my powers, I realized that I wasn't crazy. That the man who killed my other and put father in prison is _real_." _And still out there_ , went unsaid, as Barry trailed, and Laura reached out to put her hand over his, brining them closer together despite their knees being in the way.

"She must have been a wonderful woman." She whispered.

"She was."

"I'm sorry."

"It's okay." He finally spoke after a few moments of silence, and Laura smiled at him as he stood up, wiping none too subtly at his eyes with the back of his hands. "Thanks for listening. Not everyone stays around long enough to hear the whole story."

"Hey, what are friends for?"

 

A few hours later, Laura and Barry walked into S.T.A.R. Labs side-by-side.

"We were wondering when you'd get here." Caitlin muttered without even trying to hide the tinge of annoyance in her voice. Before either of them could respond to defend themselves, Cisco interrupted the impending argument.

"Hey, Laura? Do you think we could talk for a moment?"

"Sure." Laura shrugged and left Barry's side as Cisco leapt up from his desk and dashed away into some unseen nook, popping his head out the door one of the side rooms and gesturing for her to join him. Knowing Cisco, it was probably mostly harmless, but she approached slowly just to be sure. The last time they'd done this before the explosion most of the crew had talked like the Cookie Monster for hours. However, what she saw was completely different than what she had expected.

"What do you think?" Cisco asked eagerly as he swirled around the reclined medical table, revealing a mannequin that held what seemed to be her newest outfit. "I remembered that you liked blue a lot, and plain black does sort of scream 'villain', so I did some tweaking and voila!"

Before Laura stood a completely new and improved suit that made her heart race a bit faster the longer she stared. The jacket was the same, but now the sleeves were lined with a vivid shade of cobalt blue, resembling something a wealthy motorcyclist might wear. The pants had been swapped out, however, for a black tactical version, not too loose or too tight; in a word, perfect for combat. There was also a hood on the jacket that was made out of the same fabric with the same shade of blue as the sleeves. The goggles also looked a bit sturdier, the lenses just a tad darker, almost matching the blue on the rest of the outfit. There was also a pair of black, fingerless leather gloves that somehow completed the outfit. The boots were still the same, though, for which Laura was extremely grateful.

"Cisco...you're amazing."

"I thought Frostbite could use a little more colour. No biggie. The jacket and pants have been reinforced with a layer of Kevlar and tri-polymer, so I won't have to patch it up too often. Heating coils in the fabric will probably keep it from freezing but I'll keep working on that. So? What do you think?" Laura just grinned at him and wrapped her arms around Cisco, hugging him for a bit longer than necessary before she pulled away, breathless and all too ready to try it all on. However, just as she was about to thank Cisco again, the room was filled a loud beeping. Cisco suddenly rushed out of the room and nearly tripped over his feet trying to get to the computer consoles. From what she could see, it looked like they were patching through information from police scanners. "We've got a fire at an apartment building at Fifth and Keele."

A second later, Barry, already in his red suit, appeared before Laura.

"What do you say we take Frostbite out for a test run?"

Not even five minutes later, Laura and Barry arrived at said fire, the world coming back into focus almost too quick for her taste. The apartment complex before them was raging with fire, and while they could hear sirens approaching in the distance, Laura could already tell they were too far away. A crowd of people, all covered in soot and shivering, were standing on the other side of the street, watching the fire with horrified expressions on their faces.

"It's the Flash!" Someone yelled over the roar of the flames, but Laura and Barry both ignored it, the fire at the forefront of their minds. Suddenly, the earpieces in Barry's suit and the one in Laura's ear blared to life with Caitlin's voice.

 **_"_ ** **_Alright, Barry, you need to search the building for any more people. Laura, follow my lead. You'_ ** **_re going to tackle the worst parts of the fire so Barry reach any stragglers. Okay?"_  **

"On it." They uttered together and Barry was gone in a second, Laura rushing into the building after him. The building was roasting inside, fire causing parts of the ceiling and the walls to fail and come crashing down, but she charged on, spreading as much cold as she could. The flames froze like grotesque statues, the heat around it dissipating almost immediately, but the parts of the fire that she wasn't able to reach melted them all too quickly, and Laura continued following Caitlin's orders even as Barry continued to remove people from the building. Most of the building had collapsed since the fire started, trapping a great deal of them inside. Pretty soon, however, they had moved on to the top floor.

**_"Okay Laura, Barry's done, but you need to get out as soon as possible."_**

"Give me a minute." Laura replied, and she was just making her way towards the stairs when a sharp, pained cry broke through the roar of the inferno. Someone was still in the building, definitely on the same floor as her. The only question was where.

"Caitlin, I think someone's been left behind. Do you know where they are?"

**_"Hang on...there should be a room to your right and down the hall. Be careful, Laura. It looks like you may have missed some of the fire."_**

Laura didn't respond as she followed Caitlin's directions, and even before she turned the corner she could hear the roar of the flames. The door at the end of the hallway was practically smoking, the light flickering underneath the door evidence of the flames inside. When she reached for the doorknob, however, her hand came away scalding, and Laura decided that she would have to settle for brute force. With as much strength as she could manage, Laura reeled back and slammed her foot into the lock. It fell away far too easily, and Laura had to back up a bit as a wave of flames burst forth from the room, a sudden wave of dizziness accompanying it seconds later. The inside of the room was nearly engulfed by the fire, and it took Laura a few seconds before she saw the source of the cry.

A young woman, probably only a few years younger than her, was trapped underneath some fallen ceiling beams, lying unconscious in the middle of the room. Laura quickly froze the growing flames and knelt to check the woman's pulse, thanking some higher power for her luck as a heartbeat fluttered weakly underneath her fingers, before working to get the beams off of her. However, just as the last beam fell to the side, there was a large crack from above, and Laura watched in horror as most of the roof crashed down just a few feet from them both, blocking her way out of the room and sending hot embers flying everywhere.

"Guys, I can't get out!"

**_"Okay, okay; Barry, Laura's trapped on the top floor."_ **

**_"Sure thing - I've got her."_ **

Laura shielded the unconscious woman as the room started to get warmer and fill with black smoke. A distant shout from outside the apartment window caught her attention, and she dragged the woman over to it before cracking open the window. Several stories below, she could see Barry, a small speck of red on the green lawn of the complex, looking up at her.

**_"Laura, can you kick out the window?"_  **

"I think so, why?"

**_"I'm going to run up the side of the building."_ **

Well, okay; it wasn't ideal, but it was the best idea she'd heard so far. Besides, what did she have to lose?

Laura looked at the window, taking in the measurements quickly as smoke started to cloud her vision - it shattered easily enough as she kicked at it.

"Got it!" She yelled down at Barry after making sure the glass was clear, keeping a careful grip on the ledge as she watched him back up a few steps. The next thing she knew, he was a blur of red and gold and was standing beside her in the room. Without hesitation, she helped him get the woman up into a fireman's carry, and Laura watched as he ran back down the side of the building, rushing over to the ambulance and firetrucks waiting below. Despite feeling relief at having gotten the woman out, Laura immediately doubled over in a coughing fit as the smoke from the fire that had consumed the room started to fill her lungs. Barry still wasn't back, and it was getting harder and harder to breathe.

So, seeing no other way out as a wave of panic swept through her, Laura made the executive decision to jump out of the window. She simply stepped up on to the window ledge, the desperation to get away from the heat as it grew closer overriding her caution completely, and in one smooth motion, Laura flung herself out into the blissfully cool air, before she started to plummet towards the ground.

 _"LAURA!"_ She heard someone shout, and the last thing she was aware of as the world slowed to a stop was a pair of arms wrapping around her before everything went dark.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading - remember, reviews are always welcome!


	8. Training Day

"Jesus, it's freezing!"

"Really? I don't feel a thing"

Laura couldn't help a smirk as Cisco sent her a dirty glare, bundled up in what, by the looks of it, must have been at least three coats and two sweaters. Ferris Air's abandoned airfield in Central City was the perfect place for Laura to practice her abilities, something that Caitlin had pestered Dr. Wells for after she'd woken up in the lab a few days ago, struggling with mild hypoxia. Waiting for her lungs to clear had kept her off her feet for the next few days before she was finally deemed well enough, but those days had been spent being lectured by Caitlin about preparedness without any opportunity for escape. Now, everyone was getting ready for Laura's so-called 'training day', aptly named by Cisco.

"Okay, so, the readings after the fire show that your core temperature was slightly raised, so we're going just going to see how much heat you can take before your temperature starts to change."

Laura nodded wordlessly, suddenly less focused on Caitlin's explanation as she adjusted the vitals monitor that was strapped to her chest, and just a bit more focused on the suspiciously large weapon-like devices in Cisco and Barry's arms as they exited the trailer.

"No offense, but are you sure those things are safe?"

"Positive. These babies only give off heat in microwaves. You'll be fine."

Unfortunately, the way Cisco's voice cracked on the last few words did nothing to comfort Laura one bit. Still, despite her better judgement, she shirked off her jacket, and made her way over to the circle marked in chalk on the runway. Barry and Cisco stepped up to either edge of the circle, and hefted up the devices at her, which now that she thought about it were starting to look a _lot_ like flamethrowers.

_Christ, what had she gotten herself into?_

"Whenever you're ready." Dr. Wells called out from the tent, and after a moment's hesitation Laura nodded at Barry and Cisco, bracing herself for what was coming.

It was instantaneous. The searing sensation of heat, minus any visible flame whatsoever, was enough to make Laura wonder just how much she _would_ be able to take. Within seconds, however, she could feel that her body was adjusting, as the heat became less and less noticeable. When she was ready, she gestured at Cisco and Barry to raise the heat, and they obliged. The change was just enough to make her stagger a bit in shock, but eventually, the feeling faded away. Laura was beginning to feel a lot more confident in herself, but she resisted the urge to get ahead of herself and merely gestured for them to continue. As Barry and Cisco obliged her, Laura realized with a start that she could not hear anything beyond the roaring of the devices in her ears, nor the beating of her own heart.

 _"You'_ _ll never learn your lesson if I don't teach you."_

 _"_ _Daddy, I didn't mean to, I swear. It was an accident!"_

 _"_ _There's no such things as accidents, girl. Now, roll up your sleeve and do as you're told - time for lesson number four."_

As the memory forced its way to the front of her mind, Laura found herself overcome with excruciating pain. It felt as if every single nerve her body had to offer was being bombarded by a thousand tiny needles. She crashed to her knees, unable to stop herself from screaming wordlessly in her agony, and she knew then that she had to stop it.

With a scream rivalling the roaring in her ears, Laura forced her arms out until they were level with the weapons that Cisco and Barry had pointed at her. Vaguely, she heard Cisco yell at her to stop before the familiar cold was flowing from her hands. Through the haze, she heard both men drop the devices with cries of pain, implying that they probably hadn't let go quick enough, but it hardly mattered - she wasn't in pain anymore. The relief was glorious, and she gulped in the cold air like a man dying of thirst. On the other hand, she was fairly certain that the large, bright red patches on her arms were third-degree burns.

"Jesus, Laura! Why didn't you say something?" Cisco gasped as he knelt in front of her, unable to take his eyes off of the burns as he gingerly helped her sit up. "Caitlin, we need the first-aid kit!"

"Is-is it weird that they don't hurt?" Laura was aware that she was stammering, and as Barry and Caitlin joined her on the asphalt, Cisco prodded gently at the nearest burn, which covered almost a quarter of her forearm. Laura jumped on instinct, expecting agonizing pain that had been burned into her memory, but she was most definitely surprised when she felt nothing. Nothing at all. It was almost as if someone had painted the burns on her skin.

"Okay, that is _freaky_." Cisco breathed and stood as Caitlin shoved her way in, grabbing on to Laura with her own hands and tenderly poking at the marks, which were already starting to fade.

"There's a definite superficial reaction to the heat, but beyond that there's no actual tissue damage."

"Remarkable." Okay, so apparently Dr. Wells had joined in on the 'poke Laura and see if she screams' fest as well. She was cool with that.

"I'm going to need samples." Caitlin sounded way too excited, and Laura groaned internally at the thought of going through yet another biopsy, but let Barry stand her up and walk her back over to one of the chairs the others had set up underneath the tent. By now, the patches were started to fade even faster, and as Caitlin used a scalpel to scrape away a bit of skin from the inside of her arm, Laura found herself struggling to not return to the memory that had started this whole thing, with little to no success. Luckily, she was distracted by Barry as he handed her a bottle of Gatorade and a power bar, which she took gratefully.

"So, what happened out there? What went wrong?" For a moment, Laura was unable to think of an excuse that wouldn't raise any red flags, and ended up settling for an old favourite.

"I - I had an accident when I was a kid. Never really got over it, I guess." Disbelief flashed over his face, and Laura knew that she was slipping in her storytelling, but she didn't say anything more. Luckily, Barry didn't feel the need to ask any further questions, and instead settled for standing by her side as she ate.

A couple of minutes later, Caitlin reappeared, obviously very flustered, but apparently also very excited to get to work with her new cell samples, which she had to admit was just a tad creepy. Still, it was nice to Caitlin smiling again; it was always a relief when she cracked a smile or tried to joke along with Cisco, usually ending with awkward results.

"I need to get back to the lab; Laura, tell me if anything changes." Laura nodded as she sipped at her Gatorade, and watched as Caitlin sped away in her car, before turning back to Barry with a weary sigh.

"We'd better go after her, or she'll end up living at her desk for the next few days."

"Yeah. Hey, does this mean that you might be invincible now?"

"Here's hoping, Barry. Here's hoping."

 

"Dear God, I've never exercised so much in my life."

Whoever said that they enjoyed exercise was a damn liar, Laura seethed. Seeing as she would joining Barry in the field, Dr. Wells had deemed it vital that she take place in physical training exercises with Barry, with consisted mostly of pain and sweating. Well, crunches, push-ups, running and weight-lifting, but mostly pain and sweating. She and Barry had spent the last few hours doing those exercises, and Laura was so past done that she just decided to lay down on the mats set up in the training room and take a nap.

"Oh, come on, it's not that bad."

"Says the man who doesn't have to exercise _at all_ to stay fit. You have abs just by _existing_." In reply, he laughed, and Laura wondered if she could freeze him from where she had collapsed. She tried to focus for a second, just to see if she could do it, but the way her arms laid limp at her sides, there would be no Barry Allen popsicle for her today.

"Alright, I think we're good for today."

"Barry, you're going to have to carry me home. My legs aren't working anymore."

Barry just shook his head in disbelief and helped Laura to her feet, chuckling as she tried to get some feeling back into her limbs while he walked her out of the room.

"We will _never_ set foot in that room again."

"Oh, good, Laura. I've finished the biopsy, and I think you're going to be very interested." Caitlin piped up from her desk as they entered the control room, where she had been typing furiously since they'd arrived.

"Okay, shoot."

"Well, there's no tissue damage from the burns, and the only explanation I was able to determine from the vitals that the monitor took was that your body was actually lowering its temperature to compensate for the heat. That's why there were no burns. It was like an immune response to heat - your body cooled down so much that it was almost entirely ineffective."

Cisco let out a low whistle, and Laura couldn't shake the feeling that she had just walked into another dimension. "With enough practice, I think that you'd probably be able to sit in an inferno and not even notice."

Laura frowned and tried to look a bit concerned, suddenly feeling a little terrified at the prospect. "Yeah, hey, Caitlin? How about we don't test that hypothesis, because another way I could be sitting in in a fire and not notice is if I were _dead_."

Caitlin barely noticed the sarcasm in Laura's voice as she continued to type, staring at the computer screen so hard Laura was starting to wonder what else she was looking at. She had to admit, now that she had the time to think about it, it was pretty amazing, to be able to not only produce cold but withstand heat. The deck was stacked in her favour, as some people would say; although that was not presently the case. With a small groan of pain, she detached herself from Barry and used a nearby table as a crutch to fling herself into an office chair, where she simply relished the feeling of not moving. At all.

However, only a minute later, Laura was forced to use her muscles when her phone started to ring from across the room. Luckily, Barry got it into her hands in the middle of the second ring, and she hit the call button clumsily. "Hello."

**_"Dr. Sanders?"_**

"Oh, Detective West," Laura shifted in her seat to sit up a little straighter, "it's good to hear from you again."

 _Please let it be the job, please let it be the job._ Laura prayed quietly to herself even as she listened to West.

 **_"_ ** **_I'm glad to hear that. Listen, I talked to my superiors and they believe that you'd be a great addition to the department. Are you available to start Friday?"_ **

"Well...actually, yes, yes, I am. Is there anything else I should know?"

" ** _Actually, yes_** \- wait a minute."

Laura was so confused when Joe suddenly went silent on the phone that she didn't realize the last words he'd spoken had come from _inside_ the room, until "Dr. Sanders?" resounded outwards from both behind her and through her phone.

_Crap._

Laura forced a smile on to her face and turned around to see Joe West standing in the doorway, his eyes as large as saucers, and she felt her stomach drop to her feet.

"Hiiiiiiiiiiiii, Detective West."

 

"Why didn't you tell me that the person I was interviewing for a job was a _metahuman_?"

Joe's voice was hushed, but not too quiet that Laura, Cisco and Caitlin couldn't hear what he was saying through a closed door. They were all sitting together at Cisco's desk, watching into Dr. Wells' office through the door from an angle that made it hard to see either man's face. For some reason, Cisco had popped popcorn, which she had jumped on the moment she smelt the butter, despite the utter anxiety she was currently wracked with.

"I didn't think it was important. Laura's a good person. You heard about that mystery metahuman took down the bank robber last week, right?"

"Yeah, but...oh God, don't tell me. That was her, wasn't it?"

Honestly, if Laura hadn't been so worried about the fact that she might not get the lob, it would have been an amusing conversation to eavesdrop on. Working with the police was a career she probably would have considered had her life turned out the right way, and if she was being truthful with herself, there was a small part of her that really wanted the job. She just hoped that Joe would be open to the idea of having a metahuman on the police force.

When the doors to the office swung open, and Barry and Joe stepped outside, Laura stood to meet them. "Detective West."

"Dr. Sanders. You're...you're a metahuman."

"To be fair, I only found out about this a week ago. So, we're pretty much on the same page, if that helps."

Laura had a feeling it wouldn't help at all.

"Just - just hold on. Since Barry's come out of his coma, I have seen men who can control the weather and turn themselves into gas, and a woman who blows up anything she can touch. So long as you aren't t some sort of megalomaniac who knows who I am, we'll talk. Maybe."

Okay. Okay, good. She could work with that.

Several minutes later, Joe was looking at her a lot differently, with just a smidge less of apprehension and a bit more awe. Seeing as she didn't want to give him frostbite by shaking his hand, Laura had opted to display her abilities in a subtler fashion - freezing Cisco's coffee, his third cup so far that day. For a while after that, all he could do was stare at her, his mouth hanging open slightly, and when he had finally regained the power of speech, Laura was the one joining the detective in conference. This time, however, they were outside of the building near Joe's car in the parking lot, somewhere he was certain would be far enough away to prevent a certain group of scientists from eavesdropping.

"Listen, Laura, I looked over your files. Metahuman or not, you're probably the most competent person we've interviewed for the job this year. I'm not saying that I won't give you the job, but I need to know I can trust you."

"Absolutely, Detective. What do you need me to do?"

"Your foster care records. The CCPD needs them declassified before they can make the final decision."

Well, _shit_. That was going to be a big problem.

"I don't know if I can do that, Detective. There's...there's a reason I had those files sealed."

"Well, there's a reason that I need to see them. Whatever it is, I'm sure it won't affect their decision."

Laura was at a crossroads, so unlike she had been almost eight years ago, when she'd had the details of her time in foster care classified. Of the first eighteen years of her life locked away, perhaps forever. There had been no hesitation then, no second thoughts. Now, she found herself being pulled into two different directions by two opposing forces, both of which had an equal chance of succeeding. But she had to make a decision; something had to give. Her heart thudded painfully in her chest as she opened her mouth to speak

"Whatever you find, just promise you won't tell the others. I...I don't want them to find out. At least not from me."

"I can't promise you anything, but I do find anything in those files, I'll do my best to keep it quiet."

"Thank you, Detective," she said on a sigh, feeling as if the iron grip on her airway had finally eased, "I appreciate it, I really do."

Joe nodded curtly and shook Laura's hand, pulling back a bit quicker than he might have before he'd discovered her secret, and she took a few steps away from the car as he settled himself in the driver's seat. She watched as he pulled out of the parking lot, and as he drove away, Laura had the feeling, despite a small voice in the back of her mind telling her otherwise, that everything was going to turn out alright.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, heads up, I have NO idea how forensic scientists are hired, so bear with me if you know better than I.


	9. First Day

"He's late, isn't he?"

"I'm so sorry, Detective. He was supposed to be here ten minutes ago, but he hasn't been answering his phone."

Laura was completely flustered trying to keep up with Joe's pace as he made his way through the crowded bullpen. He had called her a few nights ago, informing her that she would now be working with Barry on the day shift, but the day she arrived, it turned out that the speedster was running late. It was astounding that a man with the ability to break the sonic barrier could be late at all, and judging by Joe's grumbling, he felt the same way too. Apparently, Barry had a habit of showing up late to work, and the snickers from the scattering of officers throughout the room only strengthened that impression.

"I swear, if we weren't so short-staffed, he would have been fired years ago."

"Good to know, sir."

"Listen, you know where the lab is, so you can wait for Barry upstairs. If you need anything, give me a call. And when he arrives, tell him to run for his life." 

"I'll get right on that."

So the detective had a sense of humour. Which was good. Or he was being completely and utterly serious. Which was bad. Either way, at least Laura had something to do now either than wait around for Barry to show up, and she clutched at her briefcase as she made her way towards the elevator. When she had been working at S.T.A.R. Labs, it had been quiet. Everyone had their own workspace, and in many ways, it was a lot more cerebral and less rushed. But with the CCPD, Laura could already tell she was going to be working in a rather aggravating environment. The criminals wouldn't wait for her to discover their identity, and neither would the officers and detectives trying to keep them off the streets. There was no time to take a break or wait for the answer to present itself.

She had to admit, she kind of liked it.

Once she reached the lab, however, Laura was surprised to see someone else up there. Someone who was most definitely _not_ Barry.

"Can I help you?"

"Yeah, actually, I'm looking for Barry?"

The man, a detective if his badge was anything to go by, was about her height. He wore a cleaned and pressed suit, which was a stark difference from Barry's occasionally rumpled sweater vests, and the blue in his eyes reminded her of the ocean on a tropical beach. The blond hair was natural - too dark to be bleached - and the grizzle on his chin told her that he hadn't had time to shave. Which was fine. She was pretty sure she hadn't even looked in a mirror since leaving the apartment that morning.

"I'm sorry, Barry's not in yet. But maybe I can help you?"

It was a few moments before recognition finally dawned in his eyes.

"Oh, right, you must be the new CSI. Laura Sanders, right?"

"Yes. And you are...?"

"Eddie Thawne. Joe West's partner. I just came up to see if Barry was done with a set of fingerprints from our latest case."

"Well, let's see what I can do." Laura gestured for Eddie to follow her towards the computers set up in the corner of the lab. Luckily, Barry had forgotten to log out of the system, so there was no password to wrack her brain for, and Laura quickly brought up the IAFIS. "What fingerprints were Barry supposed to identify?"

"A robbery from two days. It should be in the database by now. So, Sanders, what brings you to the CCPD?"

"Well, I used to work at S.T.A.R. Labs, but after the explosion I couldn't really return to my old job. Barry was the one who put in a word for me with Joe." Laura could see Eddie nod out the corner of her eye as she searched through the multiple fingerprints Barry had put in during his years as a CSI, eventually finding one marked from a few days earlier. Once Eddie confirmed it, Laura put it through the database and sat back in the chair, feeling a bit less strung out. Suddenly, the elevator dinged, and Eddie and Laura were momentarily distracted as Barry stepped out, looking out of breath and more than just a tad flustered. He took a few steps inside before he saw them both staring at him, and Laura couldn't hide the grin spreading over her face.

"Welcome to the party, Barry."

"Eddie! Laura! You've met! I'm so sorry I'm late. I slept through my alarm again."

"Yeah, tell that excuse to Captain Singh. _Again_. Anyway, nice to meet you, Laura. See you later, Barry."Â Eddie smiled at Laura as he sidled his way past Barry, shooting the slighter man a raise of his eyebrows before getting in the elevator.

"Oh, you've already worked out the IAFIS. That's a good start, but the captain wants you to go through _this_ ," Barry grunted as he removed a manual as thick as four fingers which weighed probably as much as a bowling ball from his satchel, "just in case. You're already cleared to go out in the field, but I would honestly recommend going through it at least twice. And using highlighters."

"Barry, how do you think I got my Ph.D.?" 

"Right, right. Just go through it when you have the chance. The powers that be like to know that anyone who works for them is at least 100% and above competent."

"That reminds me, Joe told me that you'll want to run for your life the next time you see him."

"Relax. He's kidding."

"Whatever you say, but he does have a gun, and I heard you heal fast."

"Shut up."

 

"Hey, Barry?"

"Yeah?"

"This - I think there's something wrong with this report."

The whirring of the centrifuge carried on as Barry left his workstation and made his way over to Laura, who had been poring over one of the case reports that had made it over to her pile. They'd been working on reports the entire day, the sky over the city growing dimmer in the past few hours, and Laura had already been down to the bullpen a few times to hand off the case files to Joe, but the one she was currently working on had been on her table was stumping her.

"What do you mean?"

"The burns on this guy are supposed to have been made by hydrochloric acid, the one that his wife had bought a few days before, but if you look at the composition of these samples you took, it's all organic." Laura leant to the side as Barry tried to get a better look at the files, though he eventually settled for picking it up to pore over it.

"Huh, that is weird. Is there a chance it could be homemade?"

"Well, I highly doubt a CEO's wife, no matter how accomplished, could find a way to do this. The closer I look at it, however, the more it seems like it's biological."

"Did you run it?"

"Yeah. Went over it twice and then a third time; no matches. It's weird, though, because while there's a high concentration level of epibatidine, like in poison dart frogs, there's actually a large amount of human DNA."

As soon as Laura finished speaking, both she and Barry knew exactly what they were dealing with. But only one thing would prove it. With speed barely comparable to Barry's but remarkable for a human, Laura grabbed the evidence box from the floor beside her and pulled out the many pictures Barry had taken at the crime scene. Her stomach churned a bit at the sight of the victim's ruined features, but she rummaged through them until she found the right one. It showed the dead man's shoulder, the veins of blood underneath his pale skin showing just the barest tint of green, but Laura's mind was already working overtime to distinguish the faint bruising pattern that the police had missed.

"You see it?"

"Yeah."

A handprint. A human handprint.

 

"High levels of epibatidine from the _Epipedobates anthonyi_ with baseline human DNA. Fascinating. It would appear that there is another hybrid metahuman out there, Dr. Sanders. Except this one appears to have DNA spliced with that of a certain species of poison dart frog. Anthony's poison dart frog, to be exact."

"That is awesome. What do you think should I call him?" Laura suppressed the urge to flick Cisco in the forehead before she finally turned to face Dr. Wells, his eyes glued to the screens at the consoles the entire time. As soon as they had reached the conclusion that it was a metahuman, Barry had immediately run both of them to S.T.A.R. Labs, where Cisco and Caitlin were still running tests on the samples of the poison they'd brought with them, tests which had only further confirmed their suspicions.

"Cisco, focus on the fact that he can kill a person just by touching them and that he's on the loose."

"Right. Sorry."

"How are we going to locate him? We don't even know his name."

"But we can find out. Anthony's poison arrow frogs aren't very popular in North America, but we do have several exotic pet stores in Central City, and this one offers a backdoor special on this particular species." Cisco sounded smug as he typed like crazy before the screen was alit with the owner's information.

"John Dawson. He went to the same high school as the victim, and they were in the same graduating class. A guy like that with a disturbing fetish for reptiles and a high-powered executive like in the same high school class? Sounds like a case of a bullying victim out for revenge." Cisco was right. The man on the screen was thin, almost too thin, with a scraggly mop of black hair. In high school, he definitely would have been bullied for even being in the same room as the popular kids, or even breathing, as some of the jocks at her schools had been known to do. Though whatever had happened to him must have harsh enough for him to even think about killing his former classmate.

"Maybe after he found out what he could do, he decided to act on it."

"Despite his lack of criminal history, he's still a threat. But you two should refrain from going after him until we can synthesize an antidote. This poison is extremely dangerous and fast-acting, and I'm not even sure your speed will get it out in time, Mr. Allen."

"Alright, whatever you need."

Ten minutes later, they were racing through the city to John Dawson's exotic pet store in the suburbs, two pairs of antidote tucked safely away inside of Barry's jacket as she clung to him. It was dark outside, making it a tad easier to remain inconspicuous, though Barry still did set off possibly hundreds of car alarms on the way there. When they finally came to a stop, Laura almost had to do a double take. The store itself was barely distinguishable from the other abandoned store fronts on the block, except that its sign was still hanging on to its frame and there was a small glow that could be seen through the mottled windows. However, before Laura could do anything, Barry had already flung open the door and zoomed his way inside. There was a loud shattering a few seconds later and Laura rushed in after him, the sight before her freezing her in her tracks.

Barry was lying on the floor, choked gasps leaving him as he strained to breathe, and standing over him was John Dawson, his eyes roiling with anger and his face set with rage. One of his hands seemed to be dripping with what Laura could only assume to be the poison, which had a green tint in the darkness, that had killed his most recent victim and was now quickly taking a hold of Barry.

"You - you aren't supposed to be here."

"You've killed a man, John. Nobody's going to let you walk away from that."

"Bastard deserved what he got. I'm just the one decided to pull the trigger first. Now get out of my way, or you'll end up like your friend here." Barry's breaths were starting to get shallower, and without taking her eyes off of John, Laura could see that his body was starting to spasm violently. The poison had already started to work, and without the antidote, he was going to be in a heap of trouble.

"John, listen to me. You don't have to do this. Just let me help him." Suddenly, John's face twisted, and Laura barely had the time to cry out before he was slamming her up against the window, one of his hands gripping her jaw. Laura could smell the poison secreting from his hands, acrid and noxious, and she struggled as hard as she could, but there was nothing she could really do against him at that point. Her skin stung where he grabbed at it, and when he finally let her go, it was already starting to burn to the point of becoming numb. She collapsed to the floor, her limbs suddenly heavy with the poison flooding her body, and as John stepped over her, disappearing out of her line of sight, Laura dimly noticed through the suffocating haze of pain that Barry had stopped moving. 

The antidote. She still had it. If only she could get it before Dawson came back - if he came back. Laura gritted her teeth as she tried to move her arms, barely registering the worried shouts of Cisco and Caitlin in her ears, and felt a small spark of triumph as her arms started to listen to her brain. The world was starting to grow darker with every second, and Laura wondered if she would make it in time as her hand finally closed around one of the vials. The cap fell to the ground as she fumbled with it, and Laura didn't have time to think about how big the needle was before she plunged it into the outside of her thigh. 

For several long seconds, filled only by her own shallow breathing and the stinging in her leg, Laura did not feel a difference. If anything, the world was growing darker even more quickly than before, and it was getting much harder to breathe, every breath sapping away her energy. Just as her eyes slipped closed, however, Laura felt a painful stutter in her chest, almost as if her heart had been restarted, and she curled in on herself as a coughing fit wracked her body. Dawson hadn't returned yet, which meant that he'd probably run for it, but Barry was still lying where the poisonous metahuman had left him, his chest still and his eyes closed. Ignoring the urge to collapse, Laura dragged herself over to Barry, her limbs still weak but the fog clearing away a bit at a time, and pulled out the second syringe. However, just as she was about to plunge it into him, Laura stopped.

"Caitlin?"

**_"Oh, Laura, thank God. Are you alright?"_ **

"I'm - I'm fine, but Barry isn't breathing. Will the antidote work?"

**_"How long has it been?"_ **

"I can't be sure...two, maybe three minutes."

**_"Okay, you should be fine. Just remember-"_ **

"Leg, not the heart. Got it."

The needle plunged through Barry's suit and into the outside of his leg without any trouble, and Laura watched, her heart beating rapidly, as Barry continued to lie still on the floor of the shop. She wondered if she had been too late, and she couldn't help but wander to the worst case scenario as she waited for him to breathe. Which happened quite suddenly, Barry convulsing wildly as he sucked in breath after breath before breaking out into a coughing fit, the pale green of his face slowly making way for bright red. Laura held up his head with one hand, making sure he didn't hit it in his thrashing, and couldn't help a weak grin when he finally met her eyes, dazed and pained, before his body went limp. For a while, the only sound filling the room was their ragged breathing, before Barry turned his head to look at her. 

"That was exciting."

The absolute nerve of it all, to make a joke after nearly dying, was too much, and Laura collapsed onto the floor as she burst into a fit of laughter. Hysterical and weak, yes, but laughter nonetheless. Barry managed a weak laugh too, and flopped on to his side to begin another round of violent coughing. When he finally faced her again, he was smiling, and Laura found herself simply overwhelmed with relief that she'd made it in time.

They were alive. They'd made it. 

"Hey - hey, Barry?"

"Yeah?"

"Let's never do that again."

"...definitely not."


	10. Secrets and Lies

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning: Hyphens and ellipses abound!

A few days later, Laura and Barry were still recovering from their fight with John Dawson. What remained in their system of his venom had left them both weak, her more so than Barry, and while the rest of their team had been eager to learn of its lasting side effects, the two of them were just happy to still be alive. Of course, Caitlin had once again found an opportunity to lecture them in their defeat, which made the days of recovery at S.T.A.R. Labs just a bit more unbearable than they could have been.

Despite nearly dying, however, Laura was overall feeling pretty good about herself. Not only had she helped close a case for the CCPD while she was healing, but she was starting to get a lot better at using her powers. If she concentrated hard enough, she found that she could manipulate the cold to form solid shapes, but the only thing she had managed was a lump the size of her fist resembled a two-year old's attempt at a snowman. Still, it was nice to have something to do on besides mourning the loss of her old life - or fretting over the fact that John Dawson was still out in Central City. He hadn't shown his face since their encounter, but with powers like those and a desire for revenge that strong, something was bound to happen soon. Hopefully, they would be prepared when he did.

"Hey, Laura?"

"Yeah?"

"Cisco just texted me and asked if he should buy an ice cream machine for the lab."

"Why - no. _No_. I've told that boy a thousand times, I am not becoming his personal snow cone machine."

"To be fair, he did say ice cream, not snow cone."

"Pick a side, Barry."

"Alright, alright, I'll stop. Hey, you said you wanted noodles, right?" When she nodded, Barry sped away in a bolt of yellow lightning, sending papers flying everywhere.

If he kept this up, they'd need to start putting paperweights all over the lab.

To be honest, Laura was starting to enjoy her new life. The job with the CCPD was paying off, even though she hadn't yet been out in the field, but she was becoming attached to her little corner of the lab. Hanging around with Cisco, Caitlin and Barry had also opened her up a bit more, to her pleasant surprise; she was trading Cisco's sarcasm with a wit that occasionally left him fumbling for a retort, and talking to Caitlin about the tests they were still doing on her was starting to get her closer to her withdrawn teammate. For the first time in her life, Laura could confidently say that she was making friends, and that she was starting to like it.

On another note, Frostbite was starting to gain popularity in Central City. Iris, apparently, was quite the avid blogger about metahumans and the like, and her alter ego had made its way on the pages of her blog a few times, though not as much as the Flash did. Cisco's name for her had stuck, though most of the major news companies were just calling her 'that weird ice chick who hangs out with the Flash' and focusing more on her partner than anything else. In any case, it was nice to get some recognition, even if some of it was divided and _clearly_ biased.

Almost half an hour after he'd left, a gust of wind alerted Laura to Barry's arrival, and she shook her head in exasperation when she saw just how much food he had in his arms as he stepped through the doorway. Her own lunch was just barely visible underneath the horde of Big Belly Burger bags that he set down on his desk, but he eventually managed to dig out the steaming takeaway container from the Chinese restaurant down the street and pass it over to her. "I know that it's not technically your fault you have the fastest metabolism in the world, but I cannot stop hating you right now."

"What can I say? It's a gift." Barry smirked at her as he began to eat, the smug look on his face giving her the urge to at least flick him in the forehead, but Laura was interrupted in her endeavours by the elevator door opening. On instinct, both of them looked up to see who was coming, and Laura was pleasantly, if not at all, surprised to see Iris walk in. She hadn't seen the other woman much since their last encounter, since most of her social calls to the CPPD were to either see Barry, her father, or Eddie. Still, she gave the other woman a quick smile, which was returned, before her growling stomach reminded her of the food sitting before her.

"Hey, Barry, Laura. I just came by to say hi to Eddie, but Dad said you guys would be up here, so I thought I'd drop by."

"Thanks, Iris. Hey, by the way, I saw your new post the other day."

"The one about the new metahuman? John Dawson, right? To be honest with you, I'm actually a bit surprised the Flash hasn't caught him yet."

Laura and Barry shared a quick, furtive look as Iris idly surveyed the lab. From what he'd told her, despite Joe being in the know about their abilities and alter egos, it was important to keep Iris as in the dark about that part of their lives as possible. She wasn't sure she agreed with them on that part, but it was their secret to tell, not hers. Luckily, Iris didn't seem to have noticed their silent exchange, and Laura leant back into her chair when she turned around, allowing herself a moment's respite as Barry cleared his throat. "I mean, the guy killed someone, Iris. He's not going to be that easy to find." Iris just shook her head, smirking at Barry as if he were naïve enough to doubt, well, himself.

"The Flash is going to find him, just you wait. Oh, Barry, that reminds me, you're way overdue for family dinner this month. Dad says either you're coming tonight or you're working overtime for a month."

"So, I'll be there at 7?"

"Yup. Hey, Laura, you know, if you want to come, I'm sure Dad will be happy to have you."

Laura, who had just started to tune out the conversation, looked up suddenly at the mention of her name, her mind racing to try and find out what she had just missed. However, when nothing came to mind, Laura convinced herself that her best option was to agree with the last thing Iris had said. Iris seemed to light up as she nodded, and Laura prayed to whatever deity existed out there that she had not made a big mistake.

"That's great! I'll tell Dad to set an extra place."

And as Iris departed, Laura was left sitting there in shock, completely unsure of what she had just gotten herself into.

"What...what did I just agree to?"

"Well, you just agreed to have dinner with our boss, who's also sort of my dad, his daughter, and her boyfriend. And me."

Well, crap.

 

Twenty minutes to seven, Laura was starting to wonder if a glass or two of the fine white wine she kept in her kitchen would help stop her hands from shaking. Probably not, but it would most likely make put her mind at ease somewhat. Still, she decided against having a drink, and simply tried her best to not freeze every surface she touched as she waited for Barry to arrive at her apartment. Since getting home from work, she had spent at least an hour desperately thinking up a way to simply erase that fateful nod, but she was the one who had gotten herself into the mess in the first place. There was no backing out of this, so her only option was to go ahead and make the best of the situation.

In any case, it was going to be one hell of an interesting night.

When Barry finally knocked on her door, Laura was seriously considering knocking back just even one glass of wine to steady her nerves. The black pants and the simple blue blouse were reasonably appropriate for a dinner with the detective and his family, but she couldn't stop herself from checking herself in the mirror a few times and downing a few glasses of ice water every two minutes. "Can we go now? I think I'm going to pass out." Barry immediately looked concerned, before he realized that what she was feeling was mostly nerves.

"Hey, listen. Joe likes you, mainly because you're always on time, and Iris thinks you're great. Plus, you've already met Eddie. It's going to be fine, as long as you don't, you know, freeze whatever you're holding."

That was obviously going to be a problem, considering that there was a large patch of frost forming on her purse where she was gripping it tightly, as well as on the bottle of wine she'd picked up for the Wests on the way home. "I _really_ should have been paying more attention."

"No kidding. Come on." Barry grinned, trying and failing horrendously to hide his amusement with her distress, and Laura grabbed on to him, the world blurring the second after she closed her door. Seconds later, both she and Barry arrived at a small, two-story bungalow in the suburbs of the city, painted forest green and white. As she tried to get her hair back under control and check if anything had caught fire, Laura caught a wistful look in Barry's eyes that spoke of a happy childhood with the West family, a bright smile accompanying it. From what he'd told her, Joe had been taking care of him since the day his mother had died. He was practically part of their family.

"Laura, Barry, right on time. Dad's just getting the roast out of the oven." Iris greeted them at the door seconds after they knocked, graciously accepting the wine, and Laura followed Barry inside with a smile to Iris, her senses instantly filling with the smell of the roast Iris mentioned. The Wests' home was small, but there was a cozy feeling that struck Laura with a sense of love - of family. As Barry went to join Joe and Iris in the kitchen, Laura made her way into the dining room, where Eddie was idling with a beer, apparently engrossed in a picture sitting on the sideboard, containing a younger Joe and two kids that had to be Barry and Iris. She allowed herself a smile at the wide grin on her partner's younger face before turning to the detective. "Detective Thawne?"

She must have startled him, because he jumped nearly three feet in the air when she spoke, but once he calmed down enough to recognize her, Laura saw the detective visibly relax.

"Sorry, Sanders. I was just - I wasn't paying attention."

"Don't worry about it. I guess I should learn to be a bit louder.

"It's fine, really."

They lapsed into awkward silence for several seconds.

"So, how are things with you and Iris?"

"Pretty good, actually. How are you fitting in at the CCPD?"

"As well as can be expected, I guess. By the way, I've been meaning to ask; have you and Detective West managed to catch those bank robbers yet?" Laura could distinctly remember the detective had seemed particularly eager to have the forensic analysis done as quickly as possible, so it seemed only logical to ask.

"No, not yet. Joe thinks that it might be some new metahuman, but to be honest, my money's on Snart."

Laura's heart stuttered painfully in her chest. She wondered, stupidly, if she'd heard him wrong.

"Sn - sorry, did you say Snart?"

"Yeah, Leonard Snart. Have you not heard of him?"

Laura didn't know when she'd stopped breathing. All she knew was that she'd heard Eddie say the name of one of three people she'd hoped she'd never see again, and then the world had gone silent. She wasn't even aware that Eddie was still talking. Only when Joe entered the room, Barry and Iris on his heels, did Laura finally find her way back to reality enough to muster a wan smile, and she was grateful that no one took notice. However, even as she sat down at the table, Laura still found herself painfully numb, unable to do anything but run over the seven words she was quickly starting to dread in her mind.

_Leonard Snart was back in Central City._

 

"Detective West?"

"Oh, Laura; what can I do for you?"

Laura still wasn't quite completely over her shock about what Eddie had told her, but once dinner was done and the table was cleared, she'd made her way into the kitchen, where Joe was just staring to clean the dishes. Barry had joined Iris and Eddie in the living room, where they were talking over some cold beers, although with Barry it was just for show, since apparently any alcohol he consumed had no effect on him whatsoever. She was fairly certain that they wouldn't come looking for her if she stepped away for a while, which gave her just enough time to talk to Joe in private. 

"Did - did you get a chance to read my files?"

Before Joe's gaze even met hers, Laura already knew the answer. Without saying another word to each other, they quietly slipped out into the backyard through the back door, where the lights in the garden made the entire space glow warmly in the dark. Still, Laura couldn't bring herself to enjoy the sight, knowing the conversation that was about to come.

"Yeah, I did...you should know that Leonard Snart's back in town." Relief and shock flooded Laura so quickly she was surprised she didn't collapse on the spot, but as the sensations faded, she supposed it made sense. If Joe was going to fire her, he would have said something earlier, something she had been dreading since the moment he'd walked into S.T.A.R. Labs. Still, it looked like there was more the detective wanted to say.

"I know, Eddie told me. It's just..."

"Yes?"

"I'd like to take a look at his files. His records. Anything the CCPD has on him."

"That's going to take some time. And I'm going to need to pull some strings. I'm honestly not sure that I'll be able to get you everything."

"It doesn't have to be much. I just want the basics."

"I might have something up in my study. And, by the way, you don't need to worry. I haven't spoken to Barry or the others about it. You tell them whenever you're ready."

_If she would ever be ready._

"Thank you."

"Listen, Laura...I'm sorry about what happened. With your mother and all."

"It's - it's fine, Detective. It was a long time ago."

"Still, it can't have been easy for you. And please, call me Joe."

"...is there anyone else who knows?"

"Just me and some higher ups. I left the information with Captain Singh in case he wanted a look, but he said as long as you get the job done right, he won't ask any questions unless absolutely necessary."

"Thank you, Det-Joe. I really mean it."

"No problem."

"...can I help you with the dishes?"

"Oh, definitely."

 

Laura huffed out a sigh of exasperation as she tossed the file Joe had slipped her with before she'd left on to the coffee table. Even with a few glasses of wine in her system and relatively calm music playing throughout the apartment as she curled up on her couch, sleep still evaded her as the nausea that had set in at the Wests' house tore her stomach apart. Nor could she stop the frost from forming on the glass where her fingers clenched around it.

Leonard Snart had come back to Central City. He was probably still in the city at this very moment. That was definitely not good. The last time she'd seen him - the last time she'd seen _them_ \- well, she didn't have the strength to think about it. With the alcohol having torn down the defenses she'd long ago built up in her mind, images of that fateful day flashed through her mind: pain - sorrow - anger. It was always the same, no matter how many times or how many ways she looked back on it. There were very few good memories from that part of her life, so few that she could hardly tell the difference between good and downright miserable. The one thing those memories all shared was pain.

And now that Snart was back, things were going to get ugly. He was a wanted criminal in almost every state in the country, having made a name for himself as a world-class thief, and she was connected to him, if one had the patience and the time to find out exactly how. If Barry or the others found out, well, she couldn't even begin to fathom how they would feel about it. Part of her wanted to be positive about that hypothetical, but something told her that if - _if -_ they found out, nothing would ever be the same between them again. With a heavy sigh, Laura put down her glass and started to clean up, but hours later, even as she laid in her bed, struggling to fall asleep, one thought continued to consume her mind entirely.

He was going to destroy _everything_.


	11. A League of Their Own

Chapter 11: A League of Their Own 

To be fair, when Laura had woken up that morning, she had expected it to be a normal day. As normal as her life could get, sure, but normal. Therefore, it was a fair assumption that she hadn’t really been expecting to meet the Arrow of all people later that day, or any other day of her life. Of course, like any other citizen who was lucky enough to not live in Starling City, she’d read the articles about the vigilante in the papers, albeit with far less interest than most, and the stories they’d told had been horrifying enough for her to postpone any trip to Starling indefinitely. She had been positive that if she just stayed away from the city no matter what, that would be enough to avoid meeting a grisly fate at the Arrow’s hands. So, if it looked like she was about to fall apart at any moment, she was pretty sure that her explanation wouldn’t seem too farfetched.

The police had finally found the metahuman of the week, who had apparently induced every person present at the bank he’d robbed to try and kill each other. Luckily, with the help of a bug slipped in between the stacks of bills he’d taken with him, they were able to track him down to an old storage warehouse in the industrial district. When the call came on over the police scanners, both Barry and Laura were ready to go. Oddly enough, however, the metahuman had been lying in wait, completely at ease even surrounded by a half-dozen armed officers. It had all become quite clear when the cop confronting him had pulled his weapon on Joe and the other officers. They’d gotten there just in time to get everyone out of the way, but mere seconds after the first shot, the officer had been ready to take another.

Needless to say, Laura had been very surprised when a man wielding a bow and arrow dropped down from the ceiling in the warehouse that night, wearing a green hood and talking a bit like Judge Dredd, taking out the cop before he could shoot again and unfortunately allowing the mysterious metahuman to get away. She was even more surprised when he made a crack about Barry’s mask, before climbing up and out of the warehouse with more agility that she would ever have in her life. When they finally made it outside, hidden from the view of the officers, Laura was practically vibrating with nervousness and what she hoped look nothing like excitement.

“Why didn’t you _tell_ me we know the Arrow?”

“It's not that big of a deal, Laura."

"Not that big of a de-it's the goddamn Arrow, Allen! How did you guys even meet?"

"I went to Starling City once before the incident, I ended up helping him out with a case, I came back. Besides, it’s not like he comes here that often. And if you want to meet him…here he is.”

Laura whirled around as Barry spoke, her eyes widening behind her goggles as the _fucking Arrow_ dropped from the roof of the warehouse right in front of her, landing on the pavement in a crouch before straightening up. He was even more intimidating up close, most of his face obscured by the green hood that had given him his first title.

“Hey.”

“New friend, I see.”

“Oh, right. Frostbite, this is the Arrow. Arrow, this is Frostbite. Frostbite’s actually my partner.” The vigilante sent her a curt nod, and Laura didn’t know whether to say something or run away or hide behind Barry, all three of which were looking very tempting considering the barely concealed annoyance lurking in the Arrow's eyes.

“Are you busy?”

“No, not really. Why?”

“We’ve got a case. Felicity said you might be able to help.”

“Wait, Felicity’s here? Sweet!”

The next thing Laura knew, Barry disappeared in a burst of lightning, leaving Laura alone with, well, a former murderer and current vigilante. And to date, one of the most violent people Laura had ever read about, and that was saying something. “You’re...you're not going to kill me, are you?”

“No.”

Okay, cool. She would work with that.

Despite his curt assurances that he wouldn’t kill her, Laura did not close her eyes once as the Arrow drove them both on his motorcycle towards the outskirts of the city, holding on for dear life the entire way. It started to rain en route, but Laura could just make out the general structure of an old warehouse in the distance, her goggles making it just a smidge easier to see in the downpour. There was a dark van parked out front, and if she squinted hard enough, she could see Barry, mask pulled back, talking to a pair of strangers under a dim light. She was starting to wonder if her partner had any sense of self-preservation at all, but she was slightly assured since it looked like he knew them. When the bike finally came to a halt, Barry dashed to her side, wearing a wide grin and apparently completely unaware of how terrified she’d been. And still was.

Laura looked over to the tall, dark man, who was just staring at Barry in silent awe, and the bubbly blonde with the glasses who didn’t seem to notice her at all. However, when she turned back to face him, he was talking with the Arrow, with enough to ease to make it obvious that he wasn’t too bothered by the man’s past – at least what he knew of it. For a second, Laura didn’t recognize the voice of the person Barry was talking to, now that he’d dropped the Judge Dredd act. But as she turned around, the Arrow’s face, now out in the open with his hood drawn back, clicked in her mind, which went blank a second later. Her mouth fell open, but she quickly worked to get it moving again before she spoke.  

“You’re Oliver Queen.”

“Laura…”

“Oliver Queen’s the Arrow.”

“ _Laura –_ ”

“Oh, shush, you. You never tell me anything.” The Arrow – or was it Oliver, she wasn’t sure what he preferred – rolled his eyes and glared at Barry as he tried to interrupt on Laura’s epiphany. Slowly, she peeled off her goggles and stuck her hand out, trying not to let the frantic beating of her heart somehow show on her face as she did.

“Laura Sanders. Nice to meet you.”

To her surprise, he took her outstretched hand, and Laura had to fight down her nervousness as she felt her hands start to grow cold. When Oliver, she decided, finally let go and strode over to his partners, Laura took the chance to punch Barry lightly in the shoulder, making him yelp a bit. He looked ready to say something, most likely not an apology, but he bit it back as they approached the trio. Just like the five of them at S.T.A.R. Labs, Laura had an inkling that whoever these three people were, they were a team.

“So, what are you guys doing here?”

“Glad you asked. There was a suspicious homicide in Starling where the murder weapon was, wait for it: a boomerang.” Laura’s eyes widened as the blonde, whose chipper attitude reminded her just a bit too much of Cisco on one of his patented caffeine highs, removed a police evidence bag from her purse. The boomerang inside looked sharp enough to break skin, and Laura joined Barry as he took it out to look at it. The weapon’s design was clearly not amateur work and had most definitely been made for combat, although it was hard to tell who would have made it.  

“Cool.” Barry murmured, but a quick and exasperated glare from Oliver silenced him. Oddly enough, the formerly murderous vigilante wasn’t the type of person who liked people getting excited over murder weapons.

“The tests I ran on it found trace amounts of iron oxide. It’s not much of a lead, but Central City does have the highest concentration of iron oxide in the country.”

“Good thinking. Although Coast City does come close second.” Laura murmured, tracing her fingers over the grooves in the weapon, before she realized that the other two members of the Arrow’s team were staring at her in confusion. For a moment, the man’s eyes flicked over her, and she wondered if she’d simply imagined the way his hands shifted closer towards his belt. For a brief second, she wondered if taking off her goggles if front of two complete strangers and one of the most terrifying persons alive had been the best idea.

“I’m sorry, who are you again?”

“Uh – Laura. I work with Barry.”

“At S.T.A.R. Labs?” Laura shot Barry a look at the same time the blonde did, though hers seemed to be more questioning, and he quickly took action.

“Laura Sanders, meet John Diggle and Felicity Smoak. Diggle, Felicity, Laura goes by Frostbite. She also just started working at the crime lab.”

Felicity seemed to have a stroke of realization in between one second and the next as recognition spread across her face, and it took even longer before she was able to at least move her mouth somewhat to speak. “Oh my God. You’re _her_.”

“ _Felicity…_ ”

“Right. Sorry. I read about you online – I didn’t realize you had a name chosen for yourself.”

“…don’t worry about it?”

“Yeah, actually, we've been trying to track down a nasty metahuman who makes people angry. Really angry.”

“Awesome.”

Okay, she could see how Felicity and Barry had become friends, as Oliver sent another glare her way to curb her enthusiasm. As Barry continued to converse with the rest of the Arrow’s team, Laura could not stop staring at Oliver. She had heard plenty of horror stories about his time as the murderous Hood, and even more as the Arrow, and had spent a handful of moments over the past few years considering about what such a person would be like. Not once had she expected the Arrow to be Oliver Queen, the heir to a failing company who had been stranded on a tropical island for five years, and then returned the same year that the Ho–actually, never mind, it was starting to make sense now.

However, just as Laura was about to rejoin the conversation, Barry disappeared in a flash of red and yellow, taking Felicity away to a place she could only assumed was S.T.A.R. Labs. Oliver’s other teammate – John – seemed to be in a state of eternal shock, which was only reasonable, and any other time, it would have been funny. Would have being the operative phrase, had Barry not left her in the middle of nowhere with a known killer and a complete stranger, both of whom now knew her identity.

God, she was going to make him regret that.

“Any chance you guys could give me a lift?”

 

The ride back to her apartment was awkward, which, in hindsight, she should have expected. Initially, she’d wondered if it was possible for her to walk all the way back home, but now that the Arrow knew who she was, it probably wasn’t as bad as knowing where she lived. She sat in the backseat of the van that Oliver and his team had driven to Central, while he and John sat up front. For the longest time, neither of them spoke to each other, letting the sound of the rain outside and the engine’s rumbling fill the silence, but as the grass on the sides of the road started to change into pavement, Laura forced herself to lean forward and speak first. 

 “I have to admit, I’m curious – how does Oliver Queen become the Hood become the Arrow?”

“How does a microbiologist become a metahuman vigilante?”

Damn. He was almost as good as deflecting as she was. And it was a bit intimidating that he knew what she’d been doing before the accident, especially since they'd just met; she’d have to ask Barry about that later. And stay off the Internet for the next twenty years. And maybe move.

“Well, you put that microbiologist in a lab that explodes, you splice her DNA, you give her a codename, you send her out into the world, and hope she doesn’t develop anxiety or die along the way.”

“Wait, wait, hold up a second. Your DNA’s _spliced_?” Looking back at John Diggle’s reaction to Barry’s speed, Laura could safely say that learning that she was a metahuman hybrid was probably a big shock for him. It was clear that Starling City didn’t have to deal with the unusual as much Central City did.

“It’s a bit of a long story.” John nodded slowly, his eyes trained on her with such intensity that she almost had to look away, and Laura sighed before holding out her hand for him. After a moment’s hesitation, he took it, and Laura focused just enough cold for him to notice, holding back a full flow to stop herself from crippling him. When he finally registered just how cold his hand felt, John wrenched it out of Laura’s grip, and she sat back in her seat with a small smile, feeling just the tiniest bit smug as he stared at his hand in what looked like awe, mixed with just a hint of fear.

“What the hell?”

“It’s weird, I know. I’ll send you the CliffsNotes.”

“No, it’s not weird…it’s…it’s _interesting_.” Laura was completely sure that it was safe to say that John Diggle was not going to fare well if he found out about the other metahumans Barry had already encountered, especially not John Dawson. However, before either of them could say anything else, Oliver spoke up from the driver’s seat, his voice clipped and short.

“Impressive. But you and Barry both need to be more careful, even with your abilities. You went into that warehouse tonight without knowing what that metahuman could do. You need to be more prepared.”

“Does that include having to sign up for a gym?”

“Preferably not.”

“Oh, good. I was worried there for a second.”

The rest of the ride passed in silence, and when Oliver finally pulled up in front of her building, Laura climbed out of the van, folding up her jacket and pocketing her goggles to prevent anyone from recognizing her, despite the fact that it was still raining and hardly anybody was walking outside at so late an hour. Still, one could never be too careful. However, just a few feet away from the door, Laura turned around and knocked a few times on the window, waiting for John to roll down his window.

“Yeah?”

“It’s been nice meeting you. Both of you. And,” she hesitated, meeting Oliver’s gaze steadily, “thanks for dropping in when you did.”

“Likewise.” And with that, Laura was left standing alone in the rain, watching as the black van pulled away into the night, disappearing off to God knows where, carrying the Arrow with it.

The Arrow, who was also Oliver Queen.

Oliver Queen was the Arrow.

Oh God, was she going to need a drink.

 

The next morning, with the clouds from the night before still hanging ominously over the city, Laura walked into the control room S.T.A.R. Labs with a breakfast sandwich from Jitters, only to stop short at the sight of a sizeable gouge in the wall near Cisco’s workspace, a few shattered partitions and a busted wall light. Whatever had happened, it must have taken place the night before, because no one was currently screaming at the top of their lungs. Speaking of Cisco – he waved at her meekly from behind the consoles, a sheepish look on his face, and Laura slowly approached him, taking care to not trigger whatever had almost destroyed their headquarters.

“Cisco, what’s that on the wall?”

 “Funny story. Turns out the boomerang that Felicity brought us last night moves on its own.”

“Ah.”

“Uh-huh.”

“Caitlin nearly gouged out your eyes last night, didn’t she?”

“You betcha. But, hey, I heard you met the Arrow last night.” It wasn’t too hard to tell that Cisco was a fan of Oliver’s, if the excitement that lit up his face was anything to go by. Laura really shouldn’t have been surprised at that point, but she simply nodded and sat down in the seat next to him. When she looked up, he was still staring at her, his eyes meeting hers with unnerving intensity.

“Cisco? Why are you staring at me?”

“How was it? Do you know who he really is?”

“Listen, Cisco, if the Arrow wants to add you to the list of people who know his real identity, I’m pretty sure he’d give you a call to let you know. But for your information, it was absolutely terrifying.”

“Aww. Anything else?”

 “…is it possible that you might be able to get me some transportation?”  

“For what?”

“For missions. I had to hitch a ride with the Arrow last night after Barry left me behind, and it was not a fun time. Trust me on that, Cisco. Never ask that man for a ride.”

“Okay, okay. You know, if you did have your own vehicle, it would come in handy on solo missions. What were you thinking?”

“Well, I’m pretty sure my ride last night would suggest a motorcycle. Do you think you can do it?”                            

“Definitely.” The spark of excitement and anticipation returned to Cisco’s eyes as soon as she finished speaking, and as he rushed away to start his latest project, he was almost immediately replaced by Dr. Wells. The former head of S.T.A.R. Labs looked exhausted and irritated, to put it mildly, as he entered the room, and she wondered if she should say anything to let him know he wasn’t alone before he turned to face them, his voice quiet and flat. “Dr. Sanders, may I ask you something?”

“Of course.”

“What is your opinion of the Starling City vigilante?”

“The Arrow?”

“Yes, yes, him. From my understanding of last night’s events, you spent a great deal of time with him, did you not?”

Dr. Well’s tone of voice brooked no argument, although Laura wasn’t certain if she could call an awkward and slightly terrifying motorcycle and car ride qualified as ‘spending a great deal of time’ with someone.  

“You don’t trust him.”

“I never said anything of the sort.”

“Dr. Wells, I get it. He is - was a murderer, and he might still be murdering people and that is honestly terrifying. But he saved Joe’s life last night, and those other officers’, and ours. At the very least, I respect him.”

“I respect him too. But I’m also afraid of him. I can’t tell which.”

“Good to know, Cisco.”

“No problem.”

Dr. Wells did not respond for several tense seconds, and Laura and Cisco didn’t dare take their eyes off of him, awaiting his reaction. His opinion. On the man who had killed so much in the past and who had also done so much to rectify that. Laura had meant what she’d said. Of course, Oliver’s past as a vigilante killing criminals was both terrifying and disturbing. It was something she wasn’t going to be able to put aside anytime soon, no matter how much time she might spend with the man, but if she were being truthful, he didn’t seem like a bad person. It was something that she’d developed over the years, the ability to quickly gauge a person. No matter what past he had behind him, he seemed to be trying to achieve peace through his actions. She could only hope that Dr. Wells understood that.

“Thank you for your input, Dr. Sanders, but I am capable of formulating my own impression of a man like that. When the time comes, I will judge the Arrow as I see fit. As will Detective West.” And all Cisco and Laura could do after that was watch Dr. Wells disappear into the maze of hallways. As she watched him go, Laura had a funny feeling in her gut, something akin to suspicion and trepidation, but she shrugged it off in favour of watching Cisco work, his tablet laid out before him in his workspace.

“I take it Barry telling you guys the Arrow’s in town didn’t go over well with Joe or Dr. Wells.”

“That’s an understatement. I’m pretty sure Joe just wants to get the Arrow out of town before anyone gets hurt. Or dies.”

“That’s reasonable.”

“I’m pretty sure he was thinking more along the lines of chasing him down the freeway with a shotgun. That reminds me, how do you feel about more black and blue?”

As it turned out, the more Laura and Cisco bounced ideas off of each other for the bike, the more she found herself warming up to the idea. Of course, she had never even been on a motorcycle before her ride with the Arrow the night before, much less ridden one, so lessons were definitely in her foreseeable future, but she wasn’t going to give up that easily. Finally, after what must have been hours, Laura’s phone lit up with a text. Cisco didn’t even look up, so entirely wrapped up in his work that he didn’t even notice as she rummaged around in her bag to find her phone. She smiled as she opened the message; it was always nice to see him so excited about his work.

“Who is it?”

“Barry. He wants me to meet him somewhere.”

“Is it with the Arrow? Can I come?”

“A – Maybe. B – No. C – Can I borrow your car?”


	12. Seeing Red

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Barry get shot, Laura gets coffee, and someone crosses the line.

“He’s going to shoot arrows at us.”

“Yeah.”

“For training.”

“Right.”

“Arrows. Actual arrows. Really, _really_ sharp arrows.”

“Yup.”

“How well do you know this man again?”

Laura and Barry stood side-by-side in the middle of a field, right next to the warehouse they had met with Oliver’s team the night before. It was still fairly cold and damp, and while Laura was perfectly fine with the temperature, her abilities did not account for the rain that continued to fall over the city. Both men were waiting for her when she got there, but Barry looked less than pleased to be there than he had been the other night. Apparently, Oliver had decided that they both in great need of training, given their less than stellar approach to the metahuman the night before. Which was perfectly fine with Laura, even if his training regimen did include the arrows that he was famous for putting into the criminal scum of Starling City.

Okay, maybe she wasn’t entirely okay with that.

At the moment, however, Laura was more concerned about how confident about the whole situation Barry seemed to be. He was pretty much vibrating with anticipation beside her, almost as if he were eager, or worse, excited, to train with Oliver, but Laura had little time to question him about it as Oliver strode towards them, a full quiver on his back and bow in hand. Laura didn’t know what it was exactly, but there was something about the whole ensemble that told her Oliver Queen was not to be trifled with. She wondered how many had seen that same side of him and lived to tell the tale, and mentally decided that was a question she did not need answered.

“I think it goes without saying that both of you need to be better prepared in the field. You went after that metahuman the other night without any idea of what he was capable of, and you nearly got yourselves killed.”

“Oliver,” Laura cringed at the annoyance and arrogance in Barry’s voice, “I can literally move at the speed of light. You told me yourself that I could be a hero. That’s what I’m doing.”

“Living this life means more than just wearing a mask, Barry. It takes discipline, and it takes precision. It takes _caution_. Now,” Laura’s heart leapt up into her throat as Oliver notched an arrow, and levelled it at Barry’s chest, “you’re going to run over there, you’re going to come at me, and you're going to get shot.”

“No, I'm not.” At that, Barry burst into a fit of slightly hysterical laughter, a far cry from how Laura was feeling at the moment. The only difference was, she could see that Oliver was completely serious.

“ _Yes_ , you are.”   

“No, I’m not.”

“Barry _-_ ”

“Alright, fine, I’ll humour you.”

Laura stepped out of the way as Barry raced a few hundred yards away, turning to face them atop a small slope a few seconds later.

“Ready?”

She just barely heard Oliver repeat the sentiment before he released the arrow. It barely travelled a few feet before it was consumed in yellow lightning, and then Barry was standing in front of them, holding the arrow in his hand and looking more confident in himself than she had ever seen him.

“Nice tr- _GOD_!” The scream of pain that erupted from Barry made Laura jump a few feet into the air in shock. When she recovered, she could just make out the shafts of two arrows embedded in Barry’s back, shot from what appeared to be an automatic launcher hidden behind him in the tall grass. He shouted in pain as Oliver calmly made his way around and ripped the arrows out, which elicited a louder cry and a string of curse words that Laura had never expected to hear from her partner. As Oliver went to go check on his weapons of terror, Laura rushed to Barry’s side, manhandling him until she could see his back properly. The wounds had stopped bleeding, which meant that he was already healing, although he would probably need a new jacket after this. And a new shirt.

“You _shot_ me?”

And maybe therapy.

“I heard you heal fast. Laura, you’re up next.”

“Okay, but as a warning, I don’t heal as fast. So, please be gentle.” Even though she was being completely serious, considering what she’d just seen Barry go through, Oliver cracked a small smile – at least she hoped it was a smile – before turning to face her, unarmed but most certainly a threat, if the way his body shifted into a fighting stance was anything to go by.  

“I know. That’s why you’re going to try and take me down.”

“What?”

“I’m going to attack you, and you’re going to try to take me down.”

“Wait, _what_?”

“Starting now.”

Before Laura could react, Oliver was moving at her with such speed and precision that she knew he had to have been trained professionally. Or at least by ninjas. She barely avoided his first punch, but he came after her again, and Laura threw up an arm as his leg came around. However, in the blink of an eye, Laura found herself on the ground, pinned down underneath Oliver and utterly vulnerable. Cold gathered in her palms against her will, itching to be let out as it pushed at her fingertips, but something told her that all Oliver had to do was press a little harder on her throat and that would be it. And he hadn’t even broken a sweat.

Ninjas it was.

When he finally released her, Laura briefly hesitated before accepting the hand offered to her, trying to ignore the sharp ache in her back where she’d hit the ground. As she stood, Laura felt a bit of her cold seep into Oliver’s hand, and she felt a bit bad as he let go rather quickly, though his expression didn’t betray any pain. Off to the side, however, Barry looked just a smidge more irritated than he’d been before, probably because she hadn’t been shot with arrows, though Laura was certainly not complaining.

“Let me get this straight. I get shot in the back and she gets a bit roughed up? How is that fair?”

“It’s not, because you’re as stubborn as hell and she’s actually fairly reasonable. Also, you heal faster than she does.” Laura hurried to hide a smile at the indignation that bloomed on Barry’s face, though it quickly faded when he turned on his heel to disappear in a familiar blur and a gust of wind. Which, once again, left her with Oliver, alone, in the middle of nowhere. With his weapons.

They were going to need to have a serious talk when this whole thing was over.   

“You’re holding back.”

“I’m sorry?”

“You’re holding back,” Oliver explained, “because you’re afraid. Whatever's keeping you from using your powers to their full extent, someone will find a way to use it against you.”

Afraid? Laura had been afraid many times in her life - far too many times - and she supposed she knew what fear felt like, after all this time. Looking back on her brief training session with Oliver, however, Laura couldn't pinpoint any single moment where she had actually been afraid. Hesitant? Of course. Apprehensive? Undoubtedly. 

But afraid? 

“I’ll keep that in mind - listen, I’m sorry Barry ran off like that. I’m not sure why he’s so angry.”

“It’s...I understand; I was like him once. What’s been given to you will only get you so far, and when you realize that, denial is the easiest option. He needs to learn that you have to be prepared in this line of work, no matter how fast you can run.” Laura nodded thoughtfully as Oliver began to pack up his equipment, and did her best to ease the ache in her back as she joined him. However, something continued to bother her, gnawing away incessantly at the back of her mind, and Laura sighed when she realized that she couldn’t keep it inside forever.

“Oliver?”

“Yes?”

“I - I know it’s not place my place to say, but a person doesn’t go missing for five years and come back without going through a lot of crap." Oliver's face clouded over as she spoke, and Laura fought past the brief flicker of anxiety to get her words. "Barry’s young; he has his own way of dealing with the world, even if it’s not the best. But he’s seen hardship, no matter how much he likes to pretend he hasn’t; we both have. So, please, don’t give up on him yet. He needs you.”

“Really.”

“I know, I know, it’s ridiculous, I just met you last night. But from what I’ve seen, Barry…Barry respects you. He _trusts_ you, despite what some people in his life may think about you. You’re the hero he aspires to be, Oliver.”

“Your point being?”

“Don’t give up on him, no matter how many times he runs away. Just…just stick with him, as long as you can. He needs somebody like you.”

“And you?”

“…I’ll manage.”

The silence that fell between them was far past the line of comfortable, and Laura briefly wondered with a flash of fear if she’d crossed a line. However, after a few moments of staring at her with an inscrutable expression, Oliver let out a sigh and nodded his agreement, and Laura allowed herself to smile at him, albeit shakily. The Arrow may have been a killer once, but Oliver Queen was a decent man, as far as she could tell. He had gone through things she couldn’t even begin to imagine, and despite his faults, he had managed to hold on to whatever small piece of humanity had survived. The thought comforted her, somehow.  

As he packed away his things, however, Laura realized that while Felicity and Diggle were off doing whatever Team Arrow did to find their targets, Oliver was on his own, just as much as she was due to Barry’s stubbornness. With a shaky sigh, she turned around and met Oliver’s eyes, hoping that she wasn’t about to make a big mistake. Besides, it wasn’t as if she had anything better to do.

“You want to grab some coffee?” 

 

“People are staring at us.”

“Oliver Queen in Central City with a random young woman _is_ a bit unusual. All you have to do is ignore them and not to make anyone fear for their lives, okay?”

Almost an hour after the training session and Barry’s departure, Oliver and Laura were comfortably situated in a booth in the back of Jitters. It was far enough away from the street that nobody would notice them, but the occasional customer or serve would cast them a sideways glance ever so often. Luckily, Iris wasn’t working a shift; she’d heard from Barry firsthand just how excited she’d been that her best friend knew _the_ Oliver Queen, and Laura wasn’t exactly ready to be bombarded with questions, especially with the man sitting right across from her.

“So, your team has to have some sort of base in Starling, right?”

“Yes.”

“Where?”

“I can’t tell you that.”

“Right. But you know where we work, don’t you?” Laura smirked at the exasperated expression on Oliver’s face, and watched with a relative sense of triumph while his attention was diverted by another customer daring to get close enough to snap a picture of him. His eyes remained fixed on the person’s back as they walked away, and only when they disappeared from his line of sight did his attention shift back to her.

“Laura, I know you mean well, but the less you and your team know about my work, the better. It’s how it has to be.”

“I get that. By the way, thanks, again, for helping us with that meta last night. You probably don’t get this much weirdness in Starling.”

The corners of Oliver’s mouth lifted slightly as he raised his cup to take another sip, and Laura allowed herself to relax and smile in return. It appeared that whatever assumptions Dr. Wells and Joe held towards him, at least most of them were unfounded. She took a long drag of her hot chocolate, savouring the warmth that spread through her, right to the tips of her fingers. However, as she set her cup down, Laura was a bit startled to see Oliver gazing at her with intensity she hoped was only reserved for criminals. The longer he stared, unfortunately, the more Laura felt as if he were looking straight through her.

When Oliver finally opened his mouth to speak, Laura’s phone buzzed loudly, interrupting whatever he had been about to say. She shook off the uneasy feeling that always came with being stared, and broke eye contact with Oliver to  dig her phone out of her jacket. The second she opened up her messages, however, Laura was on her feet, tugging her jacket on with one hand. Almost instantly, Oliver was standing as well, and as she turned to face him, she could see that he was concerned.

“What is it?”

“Barry found our metahuman.”

“And?”

“He went after him alone.”

 

“Is he going to be okay?”

“I’m fine, _and_ I’m right here.”

As Barry spoke up from the stool where Caitlin was monitoring every vital signal she could think of, Laura felt like as if she were about to suffocate from worry. Since she’d arrived, all she’d done was fight the urge to make sure her partner was okay herself, knowing that Caitlin was probably the best qualified to do so. She’d left Oliver with a quick apology before racing for Cisco’s car, and fighting her way through traffic to get to S.T.A.R. Labs as quickly as possible. Apparently, Barry had lost to the metahuman – whom she could now refer to as Roy Bivolo – during their little skirmish, and Laura was starting to think that her partner was going to need more than just one training session with Oliver. His self-preservation still needed a lot of work as well.

“There doesn’t seem to be anything physically wrong with him, but I won’t be able to tell if Bivolo’s powers affected him unless I run some tests.” 

“I told you guys, I’m fine. Why are you being so weird about this?” As the tight pressure around her ribcage lifted and breathing became easier, Laura found herself a bit disturbed by how casual Barry sounded about such a serious situation. The last time he’d even gotten close to Bivolo, which was barely a day ago, everyone Bivolo had affected had been trying to kill each other out of rage, and he’d nearly turned a bank heist into a homicide. She wondered, suddenly, if he had if Bivolo could have gotten away without using his abilities; it seemed unlikely, but the prospect of Barry being affected in the way that those at the bank had been was frankly terrifying. Either way, it was probably best if they didn’t take any chances.

“So, no desire to go MMA on any of us?” Felicity spoke up from the side of the room, where she had been chewing nervously at her nails the entire time, never once taking her eyes off of Barry. She’d already been there for a while when Laura had peeled into the room, looking like a nervous wreck, but neither they nor Caitlin had found enough courage to speak out loud until Barry returned and they were able to collectively wrangle him on to the stool. It was obvious that she was worried about him, and Laura found herself wondering just how close the two were, given that it was likely they’d met through the Arrow.

“No. I told you, something weird happened with his eyes for a second, and then he got away.”

“Weird? Weird, how?” In their line of work, ‘weird’ could turn out to be either less normal than usual or completely disastrous.

“His eyes went red for a second, but that was about it.”

Well, weren’t they in trouble now. Laura remembered hearing the statements from the victims at the bank, how they had seen a red glint in Bivolo’s eyes before they lost control. One woman had even tried to shoot one of the men in the bank, her brain so addled by rage that she wouldn’t be able to explain to the police how she’d gotten it in the first place. Barry had definitely been affected, no matter what he told them. And judging by the look Caitlin and Felicity were sharing across the room, they had reached the same conclusion. However, before either of them could say another word, Barry was up on his feet and striding out of the room, and Laura had to break into a jog to follow him, the other women right on her heels.

“Look, guys, just leave it, okay? All I need to do is find Bivolo and we can forget this ever happened.”

“Barry, can you just hold on for a second?”

“Caitlin, stop-” He was starting to sound angry, and as much as she wanted to tell her friend to hold back, Laura didn’t react quickly enough.

“What you did was reckless and stupid. You went after Bivolo _alone_. You take far too many risks, and as fast as you can run, that’s going to catch up with you someday.”

"Caitlin-"

"No, I don't want to hear it, Barry. You're staying here until we can figure out what's wrong with you, whether you like it or not."

What came next caught Laura completely off guard, but in hindsight, she should have seen it coming. Barry whirled around, and Laura would swear to her dying day that she saw a flash of red in his eyes before he spoke, his voice hard and angry, pushing up into Caitlin’s space.

“You know what, Caitlin? I’m not Ronnie – I don’t need to be saved or protected. I don’t need any of you to look after me. I’m not a child, so why don’t you back off and stop treating me like one?”

“ _Barry._ ” Laura barked out as she stepped forward, until she was standing in between the two of them, one arm outstretched to keep him at bay. Even though she had no intention of hurting him, Laura forced herself to focus enough cold in her hands to at least slow Barry down, if the situation called for it. It went without saying that speed and rage were a dangerous combination, which put them all at a serious disadvantage if he started on a rampage. However, Laura was not ready to hear Caitlin's voice next, as quiet as it was.

“You’re…you’re right, Barry. You’re not Ronnie. You never will be.”

Jesus.

That was just too much, and the worst thing was, Barry didn’t even seem to realize what he’d done, how much damage he'd caused. Something was obviously wrong with him, and Laura shot him a quick glare before she took off after Caitlin, who had disappeared into the hallway. As she walked, Laura knew that while she had spent years strengthening herself against spiteful words and hateful stares, Caitlin had no such defenses, and that it was best if she had someone to support her in moments like these. When she finally found Caitlin, her friend was leaning heavily against the wall, her head cradled in her hands and her back facing Laura. She approached Caitlin slowly, but before she could get too close, Caitlin looked up, her eyes red and wet with unshed tears.

Before she could say a word, Caitlin flung herself into Laura’s arms, latching on like a limpet. If she heard Caitlin crying, she didn’t mention it and simply held her tongue, rubbing soothing circles into Caitlin’s trembling back. When Caitlin finally pulled back, Laura felt something in her tug painfully at the sight of her friend looking so weary, her eyes swimming with unshed tears, and kept a hand on her arm even when she pulled away.

“Caitlin, I…”

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry. I just…it’s _hard_.”

“Barry’s been affected. You know he wouldn’t say that if he wasn’t.”

“…it just hurts. I miss him so much.”

“I - I know.”

“…Laura?”

“Yeah?”

“Thank you.”

“Anytime.”

It took a while for Caitlin to calm down, and with assurances that she was fine to go clean up on her own, Laura made her way back to the control room alone. Caitlin was stronger than most people realized; but like all armour, hers had weaknesses to it. She only hoped that someday, her friend would heal from her loss, as recent and as large as it was. However, when she stepped inside, Laura felt a twinge of panic when she realized that Barry was nowhere to be seen. Felicity looked a little worse for wear, her hands flitting about like the wings of a hummingbird as she approached them, and her mouth was pressed into a tight, white line. Something was wrong.

“Felicity? What’s going on? Where’s Barry?”

“That was the Arrow; he wants another session with Barry.”

Oh, _fuck_.


	13. Triumvirate

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which everyone freaks out, Barry gets angry, and Laura puts her foot down (in more ways than one).

Things took a sharp turn for the worse after Barry left.

The S.T.AR. Labs control room was on full red alert that night. Dr. Wells, Cisco and Caitlin had been monitoring the police scanners for any mention of the Flash since he’d taken off, while Felicity paced back and forth with her phone glued to her ear, most likely talking with Oliver. They hadn’t heard a word from Barry since his sudden departure, and most of them had worked themselves up into a frenzy trying to make some sort of contact with him. Laura sat beside Cisco at the consoles, completely at a loss for what to do. She distracted herself temporarily by listening to what the others were saying, but she was still worried about Barry. Finally, Felicity, looking even more strung out than before, if that was possible, ended her call and made her way back to the others.

“That was the Arrow. He says Barry was acting strangely earlier when they met up.”

“Strangely, how?”

“He’s been whammied.” Everyone looked up as Joe entered, looking unbearably tired and as if he’d just seen a ghost. “Just blew up in our faces at the precinct when we asked about the Bivolo case. I’ve never seen him that angry before. And his eyes – they glowed red.” Everyone shared a worried glance as Joe spoke; it was clear that they were all thinking the same thing. Barry was now under the effects of Bivolo’s metahuman powers, and it only seemed to be getting worse.   

“It’s possible that his system has been fighting off the effects since his encounter with Bivolo. That may be why we haven’t noticed it until now, and why the effects are escalating.”

 “How are we going to stop him? That much rage, and his powers? Someone’s going to get hurt.”

“Seems like a good time for a cold gun, wouldn’t you say?” As soon as Cisco said it, he was almost immediately shut down by everyone in the room. Laura had heard nothing nice about that gun, which was currently in the possession of one Leonard - Leonard Snart. Judging by what she’d been told about their last encounter, any type of weapon that could potentially cripple Barry was to be used only as a last resort. Besides, even if they did have the time to assemble a cold gun, Barry was probably angry enough to destroy them all before they could even fire the first shot. But as Laura pondered their options, the answer came to her like a bolt of lightning. There was only one person in the entire city who could take down Barry and make sure he didn’t hurt anyone, someone more qualified than any of them for the job. And it seemed that Dr. Wells was thinking the exact same thing, as his gaze swept across the room to land on Felicity, who suddenly seemed very uncomfortable to be standing in the spotlight.

“None of us can stop Barry. Fortunately, Ms. Smoak knows someone who can. I think you’d better call back Oliver Queen – we’re going to need the Arrow.” 

 

“God, I knew it! I _knew_ Oliver Queen was the Arrow. I mean, I had a list of about…150 people, but he was definitely on there.”

John sent Cisco a glare that was half anger, half ‘are you kidding me’, but her friend hardly noticed. After Dr. Wells had gone ahead and revealed Oliver’s secret identity to the entire room – oh, she was not looking forward to that conversation – Felicity had called John, and he’d arrived shortly after only to become the subject of Cisco’s magnificent coping skills, rambling and pacing. The man didn’t look that fazed by the current situation, but Laura could tell that he was worried; the only thing she couldn’t tell was whether it was for Barry or for Oliver.

“Is there any way for you to stop Barry’s rampage?”

“I have a theory about how we might be able to do that, but I’m going to need some help. Joe, are you up for it?”

“Absolutely, but the first thing we need to do is find Barry before he hurts somebody.”

“I’ve got him!”

Laura was by Felicity’s side in a matter of seconds, the blonde having secured herself a computer in the far corner of the room. She immediately picked out Barry on the traffic video Felicity pulled up. It appeared Barry had found an outlet for his anger, and it just happened to be on a crowded street in the middle of the city, full of innocent civilians who were about to bear the brunt of his anger.   

“Oliver’s on his way.”

“Good. Tell him I’ll be waiting.”

“Laura, wait!”

“That’s my partner out there.” Laura’s voice was firm as she turned to face the others; she had to look away quickly, to avoid changing her mind. “I’m not going to be able to live with myself if someone gets hurt and all I did was watch through a screen. I _have_ to be there."

"Barry's not himself, Laura - he's not going to hesitate to hurt you, or Oliver."

"...that's a risk I'm willing to take. Now, if there are no further objections, I think it’s time we all got ready.”

 

“You need to _calm down_.”

As she had requested, Oliver was waiting for her outside of S.T.A.R. Labs when she finally emerged from the building. They’d barely said a word to each other, and Laura could only speak for herself when she said that the entire ride was tense and terrifying. Now, with Caitlin, Cisco and everybody else waiting with bated breath on the other side of her earpiece, Laura was standing just across the street from Barry and Oliver, the latter who had a cable wrapped around Barry. Her stomach churned violently when she saw that Barry had managed to locate Eddie and Iris in the pandemonium, and she could only be thankful that they had arrived in time for the couple to escape unharmed. However, there was a more pressing issue at hand – Barry.

“And _you_ need to hold on!” Laura blinked, and Oliver was gone in a flash of lightning, snapping forward on the cable when Barry finally ground to a halt in the middle of a nearby alley. When Oliver finally slowed to a stop, Laura did a very stupid thing, and stepped forward. 

“Barry – Barry, please don’t do this.”

“I don’t have to listen to you!” He still hadn’t turned to face her, so she would need to deflect as much of his rage as possible towards her to give Oliver a chance to recover. With a quick, silent apology, Laura stomped her foot on the ground; she could feel the cold flowing from her core to her feet, spreading out and forming a thin sheet of ice that sent Barry sprawling when he tried to move. She heard him cry out in rage as he fell, the sound almost non-human, and Laura hastily stepped back when she saw him climbing to his feet. In the span of a second, Laura was pressed up against a nearby wall, Barry’s hand locked tightly around her neck, closing off her airway. The impact knocked the breath out of her lungs, and Laura gasped for air as her vision started to darken, a pair of red eyes staring at her through the darkness.

_“Laura!”_

She vaguely registered a burst of heat nearby, followed by an explosion and a roar of mingled rage and pain, before the grip on her throat lifted. Laura fell to her knees in a coughing fit, her eyes watering and the sights and sounds of the world blurring around her. When she finally managed to get to her feet, a dizzy spell trying and failing to knock her back down, Barry was on his knees in front of Oliver, almost hyperventilating in anger as he grasped at an arrow deeply embedded in his shoulder.

“That’s 2000 mg of horse tranquilizer entering your system. It should be hitting you anytime now.”

Oliver was proven wrong, unfortunately, when Barry wrenched the tranquilizer arrow from his shoulder with a shout of defiant rage, and as he stood, began to vibrate. Laura recognized too late that he was forcing himself to sweat off the sedative as a light green mist drifted away from him. A second later, Barry had Oliver surrounded in a tight cyclone of red and yellow, the force of which nearly blew Laura off of her feet. She would have used her cold to slow Barry down, but he was moving just too fast for her to get a clear shot and there was no way to be certain she wouldn't hit Oliver.

Suddenly, an arrow shot up out of the twister, and Laura watched as Oliver shot upwards towards the roof of the building where the arrow had lodged itself. Barry, now almost entirely lost in his rage, ran after Oliver with a roar, and Laura shot a blast of cold his way, which he just barely avoided. She suppressed a gasp of horror as he ripped the arrow out of the concrete, sending Oliver plummeting back towards the ground. Luckily, he managed to notch and secure another arrow before he hit the ground, dropping to the concrete with a hard thud, Barry following seconds later.

Now, Barry was between them, entirely focused on Oliver, and as he rushed towards him again, it struck Laura that there was only one way she could help in this fight. The blur that became Barry was almost impossible to track, but the moment Laura saw Oliver stop him with a sudden backhand blow to the side of his head, she jumped. Her hands found the bare skin of his face instantly, and Laura forced every bit of cold she had available into him, latching on to his back. The resulting scream that left him was almost too painful for her to bear, but Laura kept her grip on him as tight as she could.

However, the anger Barry felt was just too strong, and Laura went flying as he threw her off with a roar, hitting the asphalt as he vibrated to warm himself up once again. She swore she heard something crack as she collided with the ground, but through the blinding pain, she watched Barry attack Oliver faster and harder than before, finally knocking him to the ground with a punch to the jaw. He was just too fast, too angry for them to handle. But they couldn’t give up.

Barry _needed_ them to keep going.

She was mildly surprised when Oliver managed to get an arrow through Barry’s leg, and kept her distance as Oliver approached Barry, slowly climbing to her feet when their eyes met around him. She gave a quick nod, and planted her feet as she summoned as much cold she could manage, the energy almost rocketing from her hands as Oliver notched an arrow. Barry, consumed by his rage, barely noticed her, and despite his injuries, Oliver still managed to speak.

“I still believe in you, Barry.”

“ _Go . To. Hell._ ”

Laura heard the screeching of tires behind her in the distance and dashed forward, as Oliver grabbed the last of Barry’s punches and spun him around, locking him in a choke hold. When Barry began to vibrate to free himself, Laura ran up to him, forcing every ounce of cold she’d gathered into his body as her hands latched on to his face, even as Joe swerved the van to a stop. The side door flung open to reveal the device Dr. Wells had rigged up in the back, and the coloured lights began to flash brilliantly. As every single cell in Barry’s body began to slow down, Laura could tell it was becoming painful for him, but she could also see the red in his eyes fading away slowly, and tightened her grip. Finally, after an eternity, Barry's face went slack and he let out a soft groan of pain, rubbing at his eyes when they finally released him.

“Barry? You okay?” Oliver, despite how tired he looked, sounded concerned, and Laura would have asked him the same had she any breath left in her lungs. And if her ribs didn’t constrict painfully when she tried to speak.

“…this…this is going to be a special kind of hangover.”

“Oh...oh, thank God.” Laura managed, and stepped forward to wrap Barry up in a hug that made them both groan in pain. When she finally pulled away, practically dizzy with giddiness and relief, even Oliver was grinning.  

It was certainly a sight to behold.

“It’s good to have you back, Flash.”                                                     

 

“Stop _moving_.”

“Caitlin, it stings.”

“Good.”

Laura suppressed a sigh as Caitlin dabbed antiseptic on a large abrasion on her arm, and hissed in pain as she fought to urge to punch something, if only it would distract her from the stinging. Caitlin just muttered something under her breath about ‘big goddamn heroes’, and continued the laborious process of cleaning Laura up. S.T.A.R. Labs felt a bit more crowded than usual, most likely due to an extra three people joining them for the day. The rest of the team were giving their goodbyes to Oliver and the others, but Laura was forced to deal with Caitlin’s wonderful bedside manner because of the many injuries she’d sustained during the fight, including a fractured rib. Barry’s speed had healed him within a few hours of their encounter, and she gritted her teeth together as Caitlin swabbed a particularly bad scrape.

“Just try not to do anything to make these things worse, okay? I am _not_ available for house calls.”

“Yes, Dr. Snow.”

Caitlin shot Laura a glare that had little anger behind it as she left the room, and Laura was just getting ready to stand up when Barry and Oliver entered the room. “Hey, you guys heading out soon?”

“In a few hours - Barry, could Laura and I have some privacy?”

Confusion hit both of them like a truck, but Barry obliged the request with a questioning glance and as he joined the others in the main area of the lab, Oliver sat down on the stool across from her. It reminded her a bit of their little trip to Jitters the other day, but there was something in Oliver’s eyes that told her he hadn’t sent Barry away just to make small talk. Something was troubling him, and it had to do with her.

“Oliver?”

“Listen, Laura, Barry trusts you. And from what I’ve seen so far, I can trust you as well. But...but there is some information that makes me worry that I might be putting too much faith in you.”

Oh. _Oh_.

Well, she couldn’t say she hadn’t seen that coming, after everything she had witnessed.

“How long have you known?”

“I did some digging the night we met. I had to make sure that I knew who I was working with. That I could trust you.”

“Are you going to tell my team?”

“No, that’s your choice. They trust you, Laura. I don’t think either of us want to see what’s would happen if you betray that trust.”

“I wouldn’t do that to them. _Ever_.”

“I know. Nevertheless, it’s been good working with you.”

Laura nodded and shook Oliver’s hand brusquely, and watched as he left the room with the numbing realization that her secret was now known by one of the world’s deadliest people. She had to hand it to Oliver, he knew how to keep his allies in check, although she couldn’t be sure that’s what he’d been aiming for. Still, it was relieving, somehow, to have someone else know and not react as she'd expected, even if it did endanger everything she'd worked so hard to create for herself. Feeling far more weary than before, Laura climbed down from the stool, and looked up just as Barry entered the room. He looked a bit concerned; she briefly feared that he might have overheard her conversation with Oliver, but those fears were quickly assuaged as he strode up to her.

“What was that all about?”

“Nothing, really. Just congratulating me on a job well done. I think.”

“Is that good?”

“I guess so. How are you doing?”

“I’m alright…I’m just glad you guys stopped me when you did. Even if you did get hurt.”

“Well, I’m glad we got there in time to stop you from hurting Eddie. Or Iris.” She wondered just how well the couple was managing in the aftermath of the attack. Word around the precinct was that Eddie was already not the Flash’s biggest fan, but Iris…she didn’t even know where to begin with that. It looked like Barry was thinking the same thing, his face clouding over as she spoke.

“Yeah; listen, Laura, I’m – I’m really sorry. About everything. I didn’t listen to you guys and I almost got you killed. Oliver was right. I definitely still have a lot to learn.” Laura frowned as he trailed off, his face falling further, and Barry just barely had the time to look up before she was standing in front of him. her hands clasping his shoulders tightly

“I want you to pay attention, Barry. We’ve both made mistakes, and we’re going to make a hell of a lot more. People might think we're superheroes or whatever, but we're not invincible, and we're not any different from anybody else. We'll survive, we'll learn, and we'll move on. Because that is what people do. Got it?” She was pleased to see the solemn expression on his face change to one of amusement as she slipped on her jacket. “Now, come on. You owe me a drink.”

“For what?”

“For leaving me alone with the Arrow several times in the past few days and making me fear for my life. Obviously.”

“…I guess I deserve that.”

“Oh, and you’re buying for Caitlin and Cisco too.”

“Really?”

“Learn from your mistakes, Barry.”


	14. Toxic Touch

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which someone makes a return.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh my god I know literally nothing about police procedure please forgive me this apology is going to come up a lot

It was a quiet day when the call came in.

Laura was alone in the crime lab, the only distinguishable sound coming from the downpour outside, which had been going on for hours. She didn’t really mind the semi-silence, but she’d become so accustomed to having at least _someone_ talking that she was almost tempted to talk to herself to fill the void. It had been just over a week since the Arrow - Oliver, she reminded herself - had helped them take down Roy Bivolo, who was now locked up in their basement, and Cisco had been getting a bit restless. Finally, Barry had conceded and checked in a few days off to go to Starling with Caitlin and Cisco, but since Cisco did not have one subtle bone in his body, she was fairly certain it was more than just a sight-seeing trip.

She hadn’t really been as eager to go as the others, so while her friends were off gallivanting with the Arrow, she was maintaining some semblance of normality back in Central. Besides, Joe had been fairly clear that either she or Barry had to be available at all times, and with her partner gone, she was doing both of their jobs at the same time.

Luckily, any abnormal criminal activity in Central City seemed to have subsided, which made the next few days just a bit easier.

She was just finishing up a fairly simple case when her phone buzzed with an incoming text. A quick glance told her that it was Joe, and she opened it without delay. Even though she was on pretty good terms with the detective, it was clearly important to him and everyone else that she take the job seriously, and Laura had every intention of doing so.

_Homicide at 8 th and Farley. How soon can you get here?_

_On my way._

Which was how, almost twenty minutes later, Laura ended up crouching over a dead body in the middle of one of Central City’s many urban construction sites, in the middle of a rainstorm. Apparently, their victim had been spotted by a curious young passerby through the slats of the fencing around the site, and the news had spread like wildfire. Luckily, some officers in the area had managed to secure the scene early on, and now anybody with a camera didn’t stand a chance of getting close enough to snap a photo.

The victim was lying face down in the wet dirt when she arrived, and Laura internally winced when she realized that a good degree of valuable evidence might have already been washed away. At least the police had had the mind to set up a tarp overhead; she just hoped there was at least something that would help this case, however small. As she examined the area, what piqued her interest was his suit – too nice for a vagrant, and too cheap for some of the city’s wealthier citizens. Most likely middle-class, which led to the question of what he was doing in the middle of a construction site. There was nothing else of importance in the surrounding area, no matter how hard she looked, and Laura slipped on a pair of fresh gloves as she crouched down to get a better look at the body. It didn’t look as if he’d been shot or hit from behind, so she gestured for the paramedics, and stood by as they rolled him on to his back.

However, when she saw the unnatural colouring of his face, Laura’s heart almost skipped a few beats, though it appeared as if nobody else saw anything out of the ordinary. She quickly drowned out the hammering of her heartbeat and took a closer look, just to make sure. The victim’s face was a pale shade of green, almost undetectable in the light, but it was there, and the dark green lines that spread across his face were most definitely not natural. Laura just needed to make sure of something; she slipped out a small flashlight from her kit, and shone it on the victim’s face – the only uncovered part of skin besides his hands.

And there it was. A handprint, just large enough to cover the bottom face of the victim’s face.

John Dawson was back.

 

“Let me get this straight. You’re telling me our murder suspect, another metahuman who can create _poison_ , has been on the loose for _three months_?”

Joe looked ready to explode as he paced the length of S.T.A.R. Labs’ control room, his voice filling the space, Laura watching nervously from behind the desk while Dr. Wells worked at the consoles. When she’d told Joe about John Dawson and their first encounter back at the precinct, she could have sworn that he would go to Starling himself if it meant he could drag Barry home by his ear. Luckily, he’d calmed down just enough in the past half-hour so that she could convince him to go to S.T.A.R. Labs to update Dr. Wells, but he still looked pretty angry. Laura remained silent for a while longer until the tension in Joe’s shoulders finally and slowly dissipated, bringing him down to a reasonable level of calm. When he was finally done, he turned to face both of them.   

“Do we at least have a name?”

“Fortunately, yes. John Dawson: former owner of an exotic – and mostly illegal – pet store. We believe that the night the accelerator exploded, Mr. Dawson must have had some contact with a specific species of poison dart frog. We don’t have a definite understanding of his abilities, but from what we understand, like Dr. Sander’s own metahuman powers, they manifest from spliced DNA.”

“Say that again.”

“The particle accelerator’s residual energy mixed parts of Anthony’s poison dart frog DNA with John Dawson’s DNA, which is what allows him to secrete poison.”

“In other words, a hybrid.”

“That...that is messed up.”

“No kidding. Now, Dawson’s first victim was Frank Tracy. Our newest victim is this man,” Laura paused as she took a moment to scoop up one of Cisco’s spare tablets, and brought up a picture of the deceased before his unfortunate demise on the main screen, “Jeffrey Hughes. I did a bit of digging and it turns out that Hughes was in the same graduating class as Dawson. Turns out he and Tracy were often reported for bullying Dawson.”

“So, what? He’s just picking off people who bullied him?” Laura held up a hand to gesture for patience, and brought up the next few images Dr. Wells had been able to dig up with only a few swipes.

“It’s a bit more complex than that. We looked into John's past - apparently, his mother was sickly for most of his childhood, and she was on bedrest while he was in high school. John was working the graveyard shift at the neighbourhood pet store one night and he returned home to find his mother had died of heart failure in her sleep.”

“Jesus.”

“That’s not all. Police records show that Madeline Dawson made a call that night, claiming that someone – she reported at least three people – was trying to break into her house. According to the paramedics, it looked like she'd tried to get out of bed.”

“She was going to check if someone was really trying to break in.”

“Exactly. There was never any actual police investigation, unfortunately, mainly due to the fact Madeline had a history of paranoia – she called the police at least sixty times that year for similar reasons and was taking medication. But, Dawson did file a report the next day, claiming that Tracy, Hughes and one other student had caused his mother's death. According to him, they were the ones who'd tried to break in.”

“Does it say who the third student is?”

“…one Peter Yates. CEO of a small corporation in the business district.”

“If Dawson is taking out the people who killed his mother, then Yates is in danger. I’ll call Eddie, and we'll go pick him up. Laura,” Laura could hear the resolve in his voice affirm itself as Joe turned to face her, “you should get back to the station.”

“On it. Joe?”

“Yeah?”

“…be careful.”

 

**_“I’m telling you, I don’t know what you’re talking about. I’ve never met a John Dawson in my life.”_ **

_Liar_ , Laura thought bitterly from the other side of the one-way mirror, as she watched Peter Yates turn from suave businessman into blatant liar. Her hands shook minutely the longer she stayed in the adjacent room, but she forced herself to stay and listen. She could understand what Dawson must have endured for years, watching his mother’s supposed killers – they had yet to find out if there was any truth in that statement – and being unable to avenge her. A twinge of sympathy resounded throughout her chest, and Laura wondered if fate had a grudge against John Dawson. It was as if he’d never been given a chance to have a normal life.

**_“Really. Because according to this file, you and Mr. Dawson went to the same school. You were in the same graduating class. Does he ring a bell now, or are you going to continue lying to me?”_ **

**_“Listen, I didn’t have time to get to know everyone in that class. If you’re going to ask any more questions, I'd like to speak to my lawyer.”_ **

On the other side of the mirror, Joe sent Yates a withering glare that had little effect on the man, and Laura could almost feel the walls shake as the door slammed behind him. Seconds later, he threw open the door to the viewing room, looking more than just a little pissed off.

“He’s clamming up.”

“There’s no way he’s not lying. He knew Dawson well enough to torment him for four years straight.”

“Well, there's no way to prove that. We might have to let him go.”

There was no way on Earth Laura could let that happen, but there still wasn’t anyway she could stop that from happening. Still, even as she followed Joe away from the interrogation room, Laura had the distinct feeling that there was another solution to their problem. A way in which John Dawson and Peter Yates would both receive the justice they deserved. Then her eyes caught sight of Captain Singh’s office, the door just cracked open slightly, and the gears in her brain fired to life.

“Give me a minute, Joe. I have an idea.”  

 

“You’re using me as _bait_? Are you insane?”

If Laura had the guts to punch Yates in the face, she would have. Every time she looked at him, something ugly awakened in the back of her mind, but she shoved aside the urge in favour of helping Joe and the other officers set up their equipment in the man’s spacious office. The plan, as they had discussed extensively with Captain Singh, was to issue a public statement that Yates was being targeted by a potential serial killer and was under police protection at his company’s building, then wait for Dawson to arrive. Though using Yates to draw Dawson in had been her idea, a small part of her didn’t feel right using another human being like this. However, if she was right about how much Dawson wanted revenge for his mother's death, then this plan was going to work. As she finished with the rest of the surveillance cameras, which would be linked to one of the department’s surveillance computers, Laura heard Joe approach Yates.

“Listen, Mr. Yates, I get that you don’t really care what happens to Dawson, but I suggest you keep your mouth shut if you want to live through the night.”

She could only imagine the indignant look on Yates’ face, and suppressed a smirk as Joe made his way over to her. The look he gave her spoke volumes, and as discreetly as she could manage, Laura removed the vials of antidote to Dawson’s poison Dr. Wells had so kindly drawn up from her jacket – one for every person there. As the only two people in the room who had any inkling of what Dawson was capable of, it was their responsibility to make sure everyone - including Dawson - got out of Peter Yates’ office alive.

As if there wasn’t enough pressure already.

Five hours later, two floors below Peter Yates’ office, Laura, Joe, Eddie and the officers they’d managed to round up for the job were still empty-handed. The sun had already set over the city, filling the small office with the physically draining light of the security footage from the hidden cameras. Most of the officers had already drifted off to dreamland, which was only fair, but at least it gave her, Joe and Eddie some privacy to talk as they watched the security footage.

“I don’t understand. He should have come by now.”

“Give it time, Sanders. He might just be waiting until the building clears out for the night.”

“We already did that for him. What could he be waiting for?”

“I don’t know what to tell you. Maybe he’s not as dead set on killing this guy as you thought.”

Eddie did have a point. Maybe she’d overestimated Dawson’s desire for revenge, if Peter Yates really was guilty of causing his mother to die. Did that mean that this had all been for nothing? No. No, she couldn’t allow herself to think like that – self-doubt was one of the most fatal ways of thinking. If she had made a mistake, then Laura would face the consequences of her actions head on and do her best to move on from the repercussions.

“Wait, hold on a sec. Joe, did you see that?”

“…he’s here.”

On second thought…

The rush up the stairs to Yates’ office was torturously slow, and the Kevlar vest she wore reminded her of the severity of the situation as she followed right on the detectives’ heels. A quick warning glance from Joe kept her a good distance down the hallway; she was lucky enough to be allowed to remain in the building, much less join the welcoming party. Some small part of her mind flinched at the sound of the door breaking open, a familiar feeling of panic flickering to life, but Laura extinguished it and forced herself to follow her colleagues into the room. Even from the doorway, she could still see the familiar, lanky form of John Dawson standing behind Yates, a gun pressed to the other man's head, and Laura fought down the instinct to cover her neck as the sensation of his poison burning her skin returned.

“Dawson, drop the gun!” Joe barked, but Dawson didn’t appear to have heard him, his eyes trained on Yates’ petrified face.

“Do you know what he’s done to me?”

“I swear to God, Dawson, drop it!”

“He doesn’t deserve to live! None of them did. They all had it coming.”

In front of her, one officer raised his firearm just enough to hit Dawson in the head if need be, and in that moment, Laura knew that she had to stop this. With only a moment of hesitation, she broke into a dash and pushed her way past her colleagues until she was standing in between the two parties. The harsh order from Joe for her return to safety went ignored, and Laura forced herself to look Dawson in the eyes, which still glowed as much as they had during their first encounter. However, as she looked at him, Laura was struck by the change in his appearance. During their first encounter, Dawson had been enraged and, Laura was certain, more than ready to end her and Barry's lives; now, he simply looked resigned, worn thin by years of torment and desperation. Almost as if he wasn’t going to put up a fight tonight.

_No._

It wasn’t just justice John Dawson was searching for. He was looking for peace, for relief, for a way out from this nightmare that had somehow become his life. John Dawson didn’t plan on living past this night, that much was clear, and Laura’s heart broke at the thought, but she managed some amount of calm as she spoke to him.

“John. I know what Yates did to your mother – I read all the files. She died because of him, didn’t she? Because of them?”

“She did.”

“That’s why you killed the others, isn’t it? Tracy? Hughes? They were there that night, with him, trying to break in.”

He was lost for words, as if nobody had ever believed him, as if he had never heard the words spoken to him before, and she had the terrible feeling that nobody had ever even bothered to _listen_. She took another step forward, ignoring the growing sense of impending danger.

"How did you find out it was them, John?"

"...they bragged about it, the next day. I heard them. Laughed about it, too."

“John, listen - I know how much it must have hurt to lose your mom. I've been to that place, and I'm still there. But this isn't how it should end for you, or for Yates. Would your mother want this for you? Would she want to see you hurt?” 

Laura could see that John was wavering now, the mournful look in his bright green eyes telling her everything she needed to know.

Then Yates spoke.

“Listen, Dawson, I’m sorry. It was an accident, I swear to God. We never meant to kill your mom."

_Nonononono-_

"It was just supposed to be a joke.”

It was a desperate lie, and even John knew it.

The hesitation on his face was replaced by one of hard anger; in that second, Laura knew that there was nothing else she could do for him, that she had lost him. The green of his eyes grew brighter, almost blinding Laura before she looked away, and Laura heard a choked-off scream as she dove out of the line of fire, the sound of gunshots echoing throughout the room.

When her ears eventually stopped ringing, the room was silent. Even without looking back, Laura knew exactly what she was going to see, and the part of her that was still able to process what had happened became abruptly nauseous. So, she laid there, that small hollow space that she'd worked hard to bury since walking into the room growing exponentially larger with every passing second, until a hand came to rest on her shoulder. The look Joe gave her told her that it was all over, and she numbly accepted the hand that pulled her to her feet. Laura knew that Joe was talking, his voice low and worried, but as he led her away, supporting her weight the entire time, she couldn't find the strength to respond. Even when they finally made it outside, where the waiting paramedics looked her over and ushered her on to a stretcher, Laura didn't say a word.

The last thing she remembered before darkness came for her was her eyes closing and the world finally, _finally_ , going hauntingly quiet.


	15. Saviour

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which some are luckier than others.

Everything _ached_.

Every part of Laura felt as though she’d just gone toe to toe with a professional wrestler, which left her with a numbing ache that made even moving her eyes difficult. She hadn’t been hurt during the confrontation the night before, but the doctors had assured her that while shock was physically draining, it would soon pass. Still, lying in an uncomfortable hospital bed with IVs stuck in her arms only made the whole situation worse, but at least it didn’t feel like the world was suffocating her anymore. It just made it easier for her think about the things she desperately wanted to forget.

As she laid there, staring up at the blank ceiling, Laura’s mind drifted towards one of those things - John Dawson. He hadn’t made it, according to the news report that greeted her the first time she woke up, going down in a hailstorm of gunfire after trying to put a bullet into Peter Yates' head. The thought of meeting such a violent end made her stomach churn, and she had it turned off as soon as possible.

He’d deserved better, she thought. It seemed unfair, unjust, even, to endure so much suffering in such a short amount of time. Hopefully, it was better, wherever he was now.

The rest of the day passed by excruciatingly slowly, but as the time ticked by, Laura was relieved to feel the numbness that had settled in her chest seep away. When afternoon came and the bright light of day dimmed, someone rapped on the door, and she lifted her head just in time to see Joe peek his head inside. His face relaxed with relief when their eyes met, and she gestured for him to enter the room.

“Hey, how’re you doing?”

“Bit sore, but that’s about it. How’s Yates?”

“Well, he’s getting off scot free. I know you wanted to see him get what he deserved.”

“You did too.”

“Fair enough. He's not going to complain, though, so I guess that's good.”

“…Joe?”

“Yeah?”

“Do you think we could have saved him? Dawson, I mean. Do you think he had a chance of making it? Of moving past what they did?”

“Why do you ask?”

“…because I did.”

The look on his face urged her to continue, and Laura did her best to sit up, keeping her eyes on her hands. She wasn’t sure she could look Joe in the eyes if she was really going to talk to him about this.

“Did I ever tell you how my mother died?”

“No.”

He already knew, Laura was aware. He'd read her files, of course, but she'd never told him outright.

“I was too young to understand what exactly she was going through – I just thought she was sick, that she would get better. She never did. I still blame my father for that.”

“Laura…”

“It’s fine, Joe. I suppose he thought he was being discreet, but even then, I could see how he was treating her. He’d treated her badly before then, but this was just rubbing salt in the wound, you know? He would shout, he would h – what he did, it wasn’t what you did to someone who was sick.”

“Is that why you wanted to save Dawson?”

“I guess. I just - I know what it’s like to hate someone, that much. I know what it feels like to have it swallow you whole, until it's all you have left. But I also know what it’s like to have someone pull you out of that. Dawson-John never got that. It just became a part of who he was.” 

_Until it was all that was keeping him alive._

“…he did deserve better, didn’t he?”

As she contemplated his answer, Laura thought of her friends. The friends who had done so much for her when she had done so little for them. Anyone would be lucky to have them. Her eyes finally met Joe’s, and she managed a small smile as her heart lightened just a tad.

“We all do.”

 

Later that night, Laura found herself at the West house once again. The weight of all that had happened rested heavily on her shoulders, but Laura did her best to ignore it as she talked with Iris over dinner. Joe kept an eye on her, even if he thought she didn’t notice, but the more she pretended everything was okay, the more she could feel that crushing weight lifting off, piece by piece. John Dawson’s haunted green eyes still flashed in her mind when she closed her own, but Laura was fully aware that she couldn’t leave it hanging over her head forever.

The next day, she drove to the cemetery herself. The service was small, a few family friends and distant relatives in attendance, but Laura couldn't stop herself from tearing up when she learned that he was to be buried next to his mother. Despite the sorrow that lingered in her mind the rest of the day, she forced herself back into her work, getting caught up on paperwork and doing her best to show Captain Singh and Joe that this was just a bump in the road.

She wasn’t sure she was ever going to be able to forget his face, unable to close her eyes without seeing it, but she wasn't sure she wanted to forget it either.

When the others finally returned, it was late. Laura was just helping Dr. Wells close up for the night, the two of them performing the usual clean-up in silence, when Barry and the others filed into the room in a burst of noise. Some small part of her felt a little envious that the others looked so happy, but that feeling quickly died as they started to regale her with their adventures during their time in Starling City. Distracted as Cisco started to ramble on about everything he’d seen and done, Laura was caught off guard when Barry sidled up to her side, looking just a little bit concerned. She offered him a smile, but in truth, she really didn’t care what he thought at the moment – she was just glad that they had all made it back home, safe and sound.

“Busy weekend?”

“You could say that.”

“You want to talk about it?”

“…later. I want to hear what happens next.”

And as she watched her team – her friends – smile and laugh and fill up her life again, Laura couldn’t stop herself from smiling wider than she had in days. The clouds had finally parted, and to see the sun again was wonderful.

She really was lucky, wasn’t she?


End file.
